Department for Transport

Travel: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average spending, per head, on (a) public transport and (b) active travel schemes in York in the last 12 months.

Trudy Harrison: The Department for Transport has not made an assessment of the precise spending per head figure for the City of York on public transport and active travel, but relevant funding awarded to York includes the following. The Department has provided the City of York with £150,416 of Bus Services Operator Grant funding in 2021/22, to help them support the provision of tendered socially necessary services. The City of York also received a total of £316,592 from the COVID-19 bus service support grants, which ran from 1 March 2020 to 31 August 2021. The Department provided a total of £851,637 to the City of York under the two tranches of the Active Travel Fund in 2020/21, and £180,054 of revenue funding under the Capability Fund in 2021/22 to support various behaviour change activities. In addition, the City of York has been allocated £78,958 in Bikeability grant funding for 2021/22. The Department has also provided £100,000 for Network Rail to initiate work seeking to relieve capacity constraints at York station.

Motorways: Motorcycles

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the current guidance is for a motorcyclist who breaks down on a live lane of a smart motorway.

Trudy Harrison: Advice on what to do in the event of an emergency for all road users, including motorcyclists, is available to the public on the National Highways website and is aligned to that given in The Highway Code. We committed an additional £5 million on national and targeted communications campaigns to further increase awareness and understanding of smart motorways, how they work and how to use them confidently. This includes advice to drivers on what to do in a breakdown. National Highways’ main message informs drivers that if you breakdown, ‘go left’. Further information can be accessed here https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/breakdowns/. National Highways undertook comprehensive safety assessments and analysis to help support the design of smart motorways and create a safe and intuitive environment for all drivers, including motorcyclists. To improve the detection of stopped vehicles (including stopped motorcycles), Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) will be implemented across the entire All Lane Running motorway smart motorway network by the end of September 2022.

Cycling and Walking

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of taking coordinated steps across government to embed cycling and walking policies in relevant government departments and strategies.

Trudy Harrison: The Department agrees that this is essential and does its utmost to ensure that cycling and walking policies are at the heart of other Government strategies and programmes. Ministers and officials work closely with their counterparts in other Government Departments, and key documents such as the Prime Minister’s 2020 Gear Change plan and the statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy are agreed across Government.

Cycling and Walking: Finance

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Institution of Civil Engineers' paper, entitled Safe, affordable and reliable transport systems: Civil engineering insights on UK government cycling and walking strategies, published in December 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendation in that paper that the funding process for local authorities for walking and cycling should be simplified in the Second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, due in April 2022.

Trudy Harrison: The Department held constructive discussions with the Institution of Civil Engineers in the autumn of 2021 as part of the process of developing the Second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS2), which will be published in the spring. It has considered this and other recommendations carefully and will seek to ensure that the process for allocating future tranches of walking and cycling funding to local authorities, which will be managed by Active Travel England, is as streamlined as possible.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the condition of roads in England.

Trudy Harrison: As announced in October’s Spending Review, during this Parliament the Government is investing over £5 billion in highways maintenance, outside London and combined authorities receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. This is enough to fill in millions of potholes, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country. Allocations for individual highway authorities for the next three years will be made shortly.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures taken to tackle idling engines; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of creating a specific offence of idling.

Trudy Harrison: Idling is already against the law. The Highway Code specifies idling in a specific rule and the language used is an indication of the legal requirement to avoid unnecessary engine running. To disobey these rules is to commit a criminal offence. Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement and monitoring of this legislation and already have powers to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to drivers leaving engines running unnecessarily. It is vital that these powers are used to help deal with local air quality issues where necessary.

Felixstowe Port

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the current operational capacity of the port at Felixstowe.

Robert Courts: The Department engages closely with the Port of Felixstowe to understand the current status of its operations. The last quarter of 2021 was challenging against a background of global and domestic supply chain issues. Felixstowe worked closely with industry partners across the supply chain to manage operational volumes. While January and February remain operationally busier than normal, the Port with its supply chain partners is in a position to appropriately manage current container volumes and operations.

Spaceflight

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to support the launch of rockets and satellites from the UK.

Trudy Harrison: My Department has put in place a new regulatory framework and spaceflight regulator to enable the licensing of spaceflight activities from the UK. The Government also published its National Space Strategy on 27 September 2021 and has awarded £40 million of grants to kick start the establishment of vertical and horizontal launch capability from the UK.

Railways: Fares

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the average passenger fare per journey following the 3.8 per cent increase in rail fares in March 2022.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the passenger revenue that will be generated from the 3.8 per cent increase in rail fares due in March 2022.

Wendy Morton: The Department takes guidance from the Passenger Demand Forecasting Handbook on the effects of changes to fares on revenues. There are a number of factors which impact revenues including, most notably at the moment, the pandemic’s impact on passenger travel. Whilst the change will affect each passenger slightly differently, the Department has a number of railcards in place that offer discounts against most rail fares. We have saved a generation of passengers at least a third off their fares through the 16-17 and 26-30 ‘millennial’ railcard and went even further in November 2020 by extending these savings to former servicemen and women through a new Veterans Railcard.

Travel Restrictions: British Nationals Abroad

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made with his Cabinet colleagues on easing international travel restrictions for UK nationals.

Robert Courts: On 24 January the Secretary of State for Transport announced that the government will reduce international travel restrictions ensuring a more proportionate system is in place for passengers. From 4am on 11 February eligible fully vaccinated arrivals will no longer have to undertake a post-arrival Lateral Flow test. Self-isolation and day 8 tests will also be removed for arrivals who are not recognised as fully vaccinated. Although the PLF will still be required for all travellers, it will also be simplified to reflect our more streamlined system.

Electric Vehicles

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on supporting the roll out of electric vehicles.

Trudy Harrison: Industry statistics suggest that over 750,000 plug-in vehicles have been sold in the UK since 2010, and over one in six cars sold in 2021 had a plug. Charging infrastructure has also been increasing. Government and industry have supported the installation of over 28,000 publicly available charging devices including more than 5,100 rapid devices – one of the largest networks in Europe. The Government has supported the installation of nearly a quarter of a million chargepoints in homes and workplaces. Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles (EV).  The additional funding will support the rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local on street residential charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants. Alongside funding, we are also introducing the new regulations to support the transition. Legislation laid in December 2021 will require all new residential and non-residential buildings with associated parking in England to have a chargepoint installed at the point of construction. Later this year we intend to regulate to improve the consumer experience at public chargepoints. Helping consumers locate the right chargepoints for their needs; making it easier to pay; ensuring charging infrastructure is reliable; and pricing is transparent. We will also be consulting on the introduction of a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate - setting targets for a percentage of manufacturers' new car and van sales to be zero emission each year from 2024.Our soon to be published EV Infrastructure Strategy will set out the vision and action plan for charging infrastructure rollout needed to achieve the 2030/35 phase out successfully and to accelerate the transition to a zero-emission fleet.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated to support the purchase of the 4,000 zero emission buses announced in the Bus Back Better Strategy.

Trudy Harrison: We have announced £525 million to support delivery of zero emission buses (ZEBs) over this Parliament. The Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 announced £355 million of new funding for ZEBs: £150 million of this for 2021-22. The Department intends to allocate this to the Zero Emission Bus Region Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, taking the total funding available for the scheme to £270 million this financial year. The Department will provide details on how the remaining £205 million of new funding will be used in due course.The Department has also provided £50 million funding for the Coventry All Electric Bus City. Funding from other funding schemes, such as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS), can also be used by local areas to support the introduction of ZEBs. To further encourage the take up of ZEBs, we will increase the Bus Service Operators Grant rate that ZEBs can claim to 22p per km and will set a legal end date for the sale of new diesel buses.

Aviation

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of airlines flying empty flights to retain slots; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing landing slot rights to prevent airlines flying planes empty.

Robert Courts: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on air passenger demand. Following a review of the latest available evidence and consultation with the aviation industry, Ministers have decided that further alleviation from slot rules is necessary to support the aviation industry’s financial position, protect connectivity and reduce the risk that airlines operate environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights. While aviation demand remained considerably suppressed the rules requiring airlines to use slots in order to retain them were fully suspended for the Summer 2020, Winter 2020/21 and Summer 2021 seasons. As the pandemic has gone on and aviation demand has increased, the Government wants to encourage recovery. In the Winter 2021/22 Season, which will last until 27 March 2022, we have set the usage requirement for slots at 50% and gave airlines the option of handing back slot series that they were not intending to use before the season started to allow other airlines to use them. A draft Statutory Instrument setting out arrangements for Summer 2022 was published on 24 January 2022. To reduce the risk of airlines operating environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights, this legislation includes an enhanced justified non-utilisation provision, meaning that airlines will not be required to operate slots where markets are substantively closed to passenger traffic. The UK’s exit from the EU means that we have been able to take a more tailored approach that reflect the UK’s specific circumstances. Whilst these slot alleviation measures to avoid flying or near-empty flights to retain slots are only temporary, as part of the Government’s future aviation policy we are actively looking at permanent reform to the airport slot allocation process.

Overseas Visitors: Coronavirus

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the use of fake vaccination certificates by visitors to the UK; and what estimate she has made of the number of visitors into the UK that used fake covid-19 certificates in 2021.

Robert Courts: The government is working with operators and our international partners to ensure that vaccine certification is legitimate and meets our minimum requirements. Operators conduct upstream checks on all passengers to ensure consistency with the certification minimum dataset, and Border Force officials also check passengers on arrival. Regulators also conduct additional spot checks on arrival to provide an extra layer of assurance.

Department for Education

Children in Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the cost to local authorities of the rise in the number of children in care.

Will Quince: Local authorities have increased spend on children’s services over time. In the 2020-21 financial year local authorities spent £11.1 billion on children and young people’s services. Of this, £5.7 billion was spent on children looked after. This is an increase in spend from the 2015-16 financial year when local authorities spent £9 billion on children and young people’s services and £3.9 billion on children looked after.Children’s social care budgets, including for children in care are set by local authorities from their non-ringfenced core spending power to allow councils freedom to spend according to need and local priorities. In recent years, the government has boosted real-terms funding to local authorities, including creating the social care grant which has risen from £410 million in 2019 to £1.7 billion this year.This financial year (2021-22) councils have had access to over £50 billion in core spending power for their services, including the £1.7 billion grant for social care, and my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced at Spending Review 2021 that the government is providing local authorities with £4.8 billion of new grant funding over the Spending Review period to 2025.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support disadvantaged pupils over this academic year.

Will Quince: In financial year 2022-23, the National Funding Formula (NFF) will allocate £6.7 billion, 17% of all funding allocated by the NFF, through additional needs factors, including deprivation. That includes an increase of £225 million, or 6.7%, in the amount distributed through deprivation factors.In addition, in financial year 2022-23 schools will receive a supplementary grant, which will provide significant further funding for deprivation: £85 for each primary pupil and £124 for each secondary pupil who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years (FSM6). Schools’ individual allocations from the supplementary grant will be finalised in the coming months.On top of this core funding, pupil premium funding rates are increasing by 2.7% in financial year 2022-23, to £1,385 for each FSM6 primary pupil and £985 for each FSM6 secondary pupil. This means that the per pupil funding rate will be the highest, in cash terms since the introduction of the pupil premium in 2011. Total pupil premium funding will increase to over £2.6 billion in 2022-23, from £2.5 billion this year.We are also supporting disadvantaged pupils this academic year through our investment in education recovery. Overall direct investment announced for education recovery is almost £5 billion, including an additional £1.8 billion of funding announced in the recent Spending Review to support young people to catch up on education lost. Recovery premium funding will be based on the same disadvantage eligibility criteria as the pupil premium. During the 2021/22 academic year mainstream schools will attract a total of £145 for each eligible pupil.

Special Educational Needs: Absenteeism

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce (a) pupil and (b) staff absences in special needs schools.

Mr Robin Walker: Our priority is to maintain high quality face-to-face education for all children and young people, including those in specialist settings. We recognise that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has caused challenges for all schools. Whilst Plan B was in place, we took steps to make sure that children and young people in special schools continued to receive the support they needed to engage in education. Our operational guidance for special schools and other specialist providers made clear that specialists, therapists and other health professionals who support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) should provide interventions as usual.All schools, including special schools, benefit from the full range of measures the government has put in place to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission, minimise disruption to education and limit absences. These include regular testing and continuing the booster rollout for adults and vaccinations for secondary age pupils. Special schools were also able to apply for our funded air cleaning units earlier than other settings, with the first 1,000 units reserved for SEND and alternative provision (AP) settings, enabling them to reduce airborne contaminants in poorly ventilated spaces where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.We know that special schools and AP settings are often more impacted by staff absences, and less able to manage these absences using their existing staff and resource. The department has set a lower threshold for these settings to access the COVID-19 workforce fund, which provides financial support to eligible schools and colleges where needed. This fund has been extended until spring half term to cover the cost of term-time staff absences experienced between 22 November 2021 and 18 February 2022. The fund can be used by schools to employ supply staff to manage absences, increase the hours of part-time teaching or education support staff, or make amendments to support staff terms and conditions so they can take on additional responsibilities. Any changes should be discussed with the employee first, and schools should consider workload and wellbeing.Finally, the department has a developed a comprehensive attendance strategy that has been implemented since the beginning of this academic year. The department has also recently appointed a team of expert attendance advisers who will work closely with local authorities and multi-academy trusts to improve their attendance levels and reduce persistent absence.

Teachers: Pay

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing teacher pay in the next financial year by more than the rate of inflation.

Mr Robin Walker: The announcement at the Spending Review 2021 confirms that public sector workers will see pay rises as the recovery in the economy and labour market allows a return to a normal pay-setting process. This marks an end to the temporary pay pause in the 2021/22 financial year.This year's remit to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) reiterates the government's commitment to raising starting salaries to £30,000 and seeks recommendations for pay awards in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years.The department’s written evidence to the STRB will outline its proposals for pay awards for the next two years, taking account of this commitment and the wider economic context. This is due to be published later this month.The STRB will provide their report in the summer and then the government will publish its response to the report.

Special Educational Needs: Sick Leave

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of staff absences on pupils who require one-to-one assistance in SEND education settings.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate support staff having to take on work that should be done by teachers in SEND education settings, in response to staff shortages resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of staff shortages on support staff in SEND education settings.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent reports that support staff in SEND education settings are being asked to take on roles outside of their core competences.

Will Quince: We know that special schools and alternative provision (AP) settings are often more impacted by staff absences, and less able to manage these absences using their existing staff and resource. The department has set a lower threshold for these settings to access the COVID-19 workforce fund, which provides financial support to eligible schools and colleges where needed. This fund has been extended until spring half term to cover the cost of term-time staff absences experienced between 22 November 2021 and 18 February 2022.This fund can be used by schools to employ supply staff to manage absences, increase the hours of part-time teaching or education support staff, or make amendments to support staff terms and conditions so they can take on additional responsibilities. Any changes should be discussed with the employee first, and schools should consider workload and wellbeing.All schools, including special schools, benefit from the full range of measures the government has put in place to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission, minimise disruption to education and limit absences. These include regular testing and continuing the booster rollout for adults and vaccinations for secondary age pupils. Special schools were also able to apply for our funded air cleaning units earlier than other settings, with the first 1,000 units reserved for special educational needs and disabilities and AP settings, enabling them to reduce airborne contaminants in poorly ventilated spaces where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.

Pupils: Coronavirus

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on the education of children with covid-19 symptoms who cannot undergo PCR testing due to sensory issues and who have to isolate regardless of whether or not they have covid-19.

Mr Robin Walker: The decision on whether to admit a child with symptoms lies with the school. In the schools COVID-19 operational guidance and in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) COVID-19 operational guidance it says: ‘‘In most cases, parents and carers will agree that a pupil with symptoms should not attend the school, given the potential risk to others. If a parent or carer insists on a pupil attending your school, you can take the decision to refuse the pupil if, in your reasonable judgment, it is necessary to protect other pupils and staff from possible infection with COVID-19. Your decision would need to be carefully considered in light of all the circumstances and current public health advice.’’Where a pupil or student is unable to attend their education provider because they are complying with clinical or public health advice, we expect their education provider to be able to offer them access to high quality remote education. It is important that systems are put in place to keep in contact with them and regularly check if they are accessing remote education. If they have a social worker, they should also agree the best way to maintain contact and offer support.Teachers are best placed to know how to most effectively meet pupil and student needs, ensuring they continue to make progress if they are not in face to face education because they are following public health advice. We recognise that some pupils and students with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support, and expect schools and colleges to work collaboratively with families and implement reasonable adjustments so that pupils with SEND can successfully access remote education appropriate for their level of need.Where children and young people with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are not attending their education provision because they are following public health advice, multi-agency professionals should collaborate to agree how to meet their duties to deliver the provision set out in the EHCP. This may include face to face visits to the home, or virtual support by means of video or telephone calls, or via email.

Teachers: Coronavirus

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of teachers self-isolating as a result of covid-19 in January 2022.

Mr Robin Walker: The department continues to monitor workforce absence very closely.The daily education settings survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and COVID-19 absence.The most recent published data at national level is for 20 January 2022 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. The department estimates that 4.5% of teachers and school leaders were absent from open schools due to COVID-19 related reasons on 20 January, down from 4.9% on 6 January.

Ofsted: Staff

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of using expert Ofsted inspectors to teach in schools where cover is unavailable.

Mr Robin Walker: The deployment of Ofsted inspectors is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston directly and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.Ofsted’s inspection arrangements have rightly been kept under review as the COVID-19 outbreak develops, and adjustments made where appropriate. At the start of January, Ofsted temporarily halted use of part time inspectors who are also front-line leaders so they could focus on their leadership responsibilities. From Monday 31 January, Ofsted are once again inviting those leaders who are able to inspect again to do so as it moves back to its full programme of inspections.

Schools: Gender Based Violence

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's assessment is of the extent and effectiveness of existing programmes aiming to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) within schools and colleges in England, for each category of action (a) interventions that seek to transform gender norms to prevent VAWG, (b) healthy relationships education and bystander skills for both children and adolescents, (c) applied, participatory theatre projects concerning VAWG, (d) interventions designed to promote empowerment through self-defence and coaching for young women and (e) training of education professionals around the identification of potential victims of VAWG and their referral to other agencies.

Mr Robin Walker: Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe.The subjects of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) are now a statutory part of the curriculum. They include teaching pupils what healthy relationships look like, and the concepts of, and laws relating to, all forms of abuse. The RSHE statutory guidance also advises schools to be alive to issues such as sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and gender stereotypes, and to take positive action to tackle these issues. The guidance is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver these subjects, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and backgrounds of their pupils. The department has provided advice on choosing resources and working with external agencies in the non-statutory implementation guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum.Following the Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges, the department is strengthening support for designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) so they can confidently identify and address sexual abuse and harassment. This includes funding What Works for Children’s Social Care to trial supervision and training for DSLs in schools with a particular focus on supporting them to respond to sexual abuse issues in schools, working with the Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse. This also includes incorporating resources on child sexual abuse into the online resource hub for DSLs, which will launch in summer 2022.Further education providers are expected to provide personal and social development for their learners and will be judged by Ofsted on how they deliver this. Key criteria for the assessment include developing confidence and resilience, understanding how to keep mentally and physically healthy and developing an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationships and sex education. The department does not specify how colleges should achieve this.The statutory safeguarding guidance 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' is very clear that all staff in schools and colleges should be aware of indicators of any form of abuse and or neglect, and what they should do if they have any concerns about a child being abused.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools offered counselling services in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency, (b) the North East and (c) England in the last 12 months.

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has updated guidance provided to schools on schools-based counselling to reflect the context of the covid-19 outbreak.

Will Quince: The department does not collect regular information on the provision of counselling in schools and colleges in England, including the Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency.Our most recent survey of mental health provision in schools and colleges, published in 2017, found that 61% of schools and colleges (56% of primary schools, 84% of secondary schools and 93% of colleges) reported offering access to counselling services for their pupils and students. The full survey can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634726/Supporting_Mental-Health_survey_report.pdf. Recently, findings from the department’s COVID-19 School Snapshot Survey in July 2021, found that 96% of schools were providing support in school for pupils identified as having mental health needs.We recognise that school and college-based counselling is a valuable provision which can play a particularly effective role as part of a whole-school or college approach to wellbeing and mental health, within which support can come from a number of sources. Our guidance on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling further supports schools who have decided that counselling support is appropriate for their pupils. The guidance outlines a strong expectation that over time, all schools will offer counselling services alongside other interventions. The current guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.As a result of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have committed to publishing updated guidance in the 2022/23 academic year, to make sure it reflects the current context.

Pupil Exclusions

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils were permanently excluded from (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) special schools in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) South East England and (iv) England as a proportion of the total number of pupils in each school in the 2020-21 academic year.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils on roll have been suspended from (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) special schools in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) South East England and (iv) England in the 2020-21 academic year.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of average length of time of pupil suspensions in (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools, and (c) special schools in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) South East England, and (iv) England in (A) 2019-20 and (B) 2020-21.

Mr Robin Walker: Information on the numbers and rates of permanent exclusions and suspensions is available in the national statistics release “Permanent exclusions and suspensions in England.” This can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england.The release includes data at national, regional, local authority, local authority district and school level. Data is not yet available for the academic year 2020-21, as this is due to be published in July 2022. Tables relating to 2019-20 giving the number and rate of permanent exclusions and suspensions by school type have been produced using the ‘create tables’ tool at the following links:Oxfordshire, South East and England: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ce18be44-a5aa-4e3f-ba27-34e5d9e5a38aOxford: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/48f9a035-9123-477e-8249-aae4b0ca3ed3The attached table shows the average length of suspensions. Exclusions (pdf, 15.5KB)

Children in Care: Special Educational Needs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of children and young adults in care that have complex needs.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children and young people are in care (a) in total and (b) by age as of 25 January 2022.

Will Quince: The department does not yet hold information on the number of children and young people who are looked after during the reporting year ending March 2022. This data will be submitted to the department by local authorities in the annual SSDA903 return in spring 2022, and will be published in an annual statistical release later this year.The latest figures on the number of children looked after by age as at 31 March 2021 were published on the 18 November 2021. These can be found in Table A1 of the annual statistical release at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.The department collects data on the category of need at the time a child started to be looked after. Category of need codes record the main reason that a child is being provided with services, but are not categorised by whether a need is complex or otherwise. This data is also published in Table A1 of the annual statistical release.

Disability and Special Educational Needs: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for special educational needs and disabilities in York.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are in receipt of the education, care and funding that they need.

Will Quince: As a result of the autumn 2021 Spending Review, by financial year 2024-25 the core schools’ budget will have increased by more than £7 billion, compared to 2021-22. This includes an additional £1.6 billion next year for schools and for the children and young people with more complex needs who are supported by high needs funding, as well as the £2.4 billion increase already planned as a result of the previous Spending Review. As a result, we were able to announce on 16 December that high needs funding for children and young people with complex needs is increasing in the next financial year 2022-23 by £1 billion to over £9.1 billion.This unprecedented increase in high needs funding of 13% comes on top of the £1.5 billion increase over the last two years and will continue to support local authorities and schools with the increasing costs they are facing. York will attract an increase of 12.5% per head of their 2-18 population next year, compared to the current financial year’s allocation, bringing their total high needs funding allocation in 2022-23 to £25 million.Alongside additional funding, we have made significant progress with the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review. My right hon friend, the Secretary of State for Education, committed at the Education Select Committee on 3 November 2021 that we would publish proposals for full public consultation in the first three months of this year.

Holocaust: Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase teaching of the events of the Holocaust in UK schools.

Mr Robin Walker: The government has supported Holocaust education for many years and is fully committed to continuing this support.In recognition of its importance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the national curriculum for history at key stage 3. This ensures that young people from every background can continue to learn about the Holocaust and its relevance today. Effective teaching about the Holocaust can support pupils to learn about the possible consequences of antisemitism and extremism, to understand how society can prevent the repeat of such a catastrophe.The department further supports school pupils’ and teachers’ understanding of the Holocaust by providing funding for several programmes. This includes £500,000 in the 2021/22 financial year for University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education which is match funded by the Pears Foundation, and £2.126 million in the 2021/22 financial year for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz project. The latter has been provided on an online basis during the COVID-19 outbreak and has therefore had the capacity to reach more pupils. These programmes help reach all types of schools and help to develop high-quality teaching across the school sector.Education is a devolved matter, and approaches to Holocaust education may differ in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Children: Protection

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Health and Social Care Bill proposals on joint working between local authorities, the police and health authorities on safeguarding children.

Will Quince: Safeguarding children requires strong multi-agency arrangements. This statutory duty is equally shared between local authorities, health and police. The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Home Office and key sector stakeholders to ensure that safeguarding remains a priority under the Health and Social Care Bill. We are also working to assure that the needs of children and young people stay central to decision-making within these new multi-agency arrangements.

Home Education

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government’s response to the Education Committee’s Third Report on Strengthening Home Education, published on 26 October 2021, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to create a statutory register including home educated children, based on the Government's response to the Committee’s report.

Mr Robin Walker: The department remains committed to a form of local authority register for children not in school and we intend to legislate for it at a suitable opportunity. We will set out further details in the government response to the ‘Children Not in School’ consultation, which we will publish in coming weeks.

Pupils: Coronavirus

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on increasing covid-19 vaccination uptake among school pupils.

Mr Robin Walker: Vaccines are the best way we can protect ourselves and keep children and young people in face-to-face education. On 22 December, the government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that a primary course of vaccination should be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group, or who are a household contact of someone (of any age) who is immunosuppressed. On 24 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that the department will distribute a total of £8 million in funding to NHS England to support secondary schools with the vitally important in-school vaccination programme for young people. This comes as over 50% of 12 to 15-year-olds, over 1.5 million people, have now had at least one dose of the vaccine.To accelerate the COVID-19 programme in schools, the NHS has bolstered the in-school offer to make it more efficient and increase the scale and pace of delivery, as well as target communications to parents, young people and the public to improve uptake and increase overall confidence in the programme.To ensure even more young people can get the vaccine as quickly as possible, the national booking service is open for vaccination bookings for young people. This service is available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/.To support schools, and based on feedback we gathered, we have published a new ‘how to’ guide which is available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cT6adcSVsLer0kvcSuI4QcBYdlmdgb5x. This includes useful information and resources for schools, including a template letter that can be used to communicate with parents. The COVID-19 vaccination guidance and leaflets for parents, children and young people are being translated by Public Health England. The accessible versions include braille and British Sign Language, as well as web and print versions in 27 languages.

Early Years Healthy Development Review

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the Early Years Healthy Development Review.

Will Quince: At the Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a £300 million to transform ‘Start for Life’ and family help services in half of the council areas across England.This will fund a network of Family Hubs and specific support, within those Hubs, for parent-infant mental health, breastfeeding services and parenting programmes. In addition, we will be asking all 75 local areas to publish their 'Start for Life' offer and providing funding for trials of innovative workforce models in a smaller number of areas.Family hubs are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services and providers, and putting relationships at the heart of family help.

Students: Government Assistance

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support students whose academic performance has been adversely impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Robin Walker: Helping children and young people to catch up is a key priority for the government and overall direct investment announced for education recovery is almost £5 billion. This includes an additional £1.8 billion of funding announced in the recent Spending Review to support young people to catch up on missed learning.We have consistently targeted recovery funding where the evidence tells us it will be most effective: on tutoring, teaching and extra time for those with the least time left. Our latest investment continues to support these interventions and to help those that need it most.Our education recovery investment includes funding for up to 100 million tutoring hours for 5 to 19 year olds by 2024, multi-year direct funding so schools can deliver evidence-based interventions based on pupil needs, summer schools in 2021, extra time in 16 to 19 education, 500,000 training opportunities for school teachers and early years practitioners, and the opportunity for year 13 students, where it is judged beneficial, to repeat their final year in 2021/22.Direct recovery funding comes on top of wider increases to early years, schools and college funding. Schools will receive an additional £4.7 billion in core funding in the 2024/25 financial year, including £1.6 billion in 2022/23 financial year on top of already planned increases from the 2019 Spending Review, which is equivalent to a total cash increase of £1,500 per pupil between the 2019/20 and 2024/25 financial years.The department recognises that students taking exams this year will have experienced disruption to their education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why, together with Ofqual, we consulted on and have confirmed a range of adaptations to GCSE and A/AS level exams. Exam boards will be releasing advance information about the focus of the content of exams in most GCSE and A/AS level subjects on 7 February. Other adaptations include a choice of content or topics and the provision of exam aids in some GCSEs. Additionally, Ofqual have confirmed that 2022 will be a transition year for grading. Grades will be set around a midpoint between 2021 and pre-COVID-19 grades.The department recognises that the extended school and college closures have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s learning. All schools should continue to teach a broad and balanced curriculum in all subjects. The optional guidance, ‘teaching a broad and balanced curriculum for education recovery’, offers suggestions to help schools decide how to prioritise elements within their curriculum for education recovery, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-a-broad-and-balanced-curriculum-for-education-recovery. These suggestions are based on the good practice evident in many schools, as exemplified in the case studies.Oak National Academy was created in April 2020 as a rapid response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Teachers and colleagues from leading education organisations came together to support schools’ efforts to keep children learning through the provision of remote education. Since its launch, more than 40,000 free online learning resources and video lessons in a broad range of subjects have been developed across 35 subjects from early years to key stage 4. Specialist content for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is also available.

Special Educational Needs

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that SEND children with an education and health care plan receive the necessary support in school throughout their education.

Will Quince: The department’s ambition for all children and young people, no matter their special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), is that they receive the right support to succeed in their education. Under the Children and Families Act 2014, every mainstream school is required to identify and address the SEND of the pupils they support and use their best endeavours to make sure that they get the support they need.The SEND Code of Practice explains that education, health and care (EHC) plans should be focused on education, training, health and care outcomes that will enable children and young people to progress in their learning and, as they get older, to be well prepared for adulthood. It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that the support specified in an EHC plan is delivered by the named school.Through our contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs, we have funded the Whole School SEND Consortium to equip staff in mainstream and special schools to deliver high quality teaching to all children and young people with SEND.In addition, the SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes and experience of all children and young people with SEND, within a sustainable system. The Review will publish as a green paper for full public consultation in the first three months of this year.

National Tutoring Programme

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the National Tutoring Programme.

Mr Robin Walker: The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) aims to deliver up to 2 million courses this year, and up to 90 million tuition hours by the 2024/25 academic year across the programme’s three pillars.Details of the NTP’s performance so far this year was published on 11 January. This estimated just over 300,000 tuition courses had been started since September. This is almost exactly the number of courses delivered in the whole of the previous academic year.Independent evaluations are being conducted for both year one and year two of the NTP. We expect results from the year one overarching evaluation to be published in summer 2022. This will include insights into how the NTP has been implemented and the extent to which the programme is having an impact on pupil progress.The year two evaluation will again focus on pupil progress and will also look into school and teacher impacts and reasons for non-participation. Interim findings from the year two evaluation will be shared with the department during the evaluation to help inform decision-making. Findings will be published in 2023.

Schools: Safety

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that pupils can learn safely in education settings.

Mr Robin Walker: Protecting face-to-face education is our top priority. There is a package of measures and support in place to help reduce transmission and retain face-to-face teaching as much as possible.All education and childcare staff, and students of secondary school age and above should continue to test twice a week a home, 3 to 4 days apart with lateral flow device test kits. Testing remains voluntary but is strongly encouraged. As of 19 January, over 109.5 million tests (including household bubble and support bubble tests) have been completed in all education providers, including higher education.All eligible staff and students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters, where eligible. On 22 December 2021, the government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that a primary course of vaccination should be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group, or who are a household contact of someone (of any age) who is immunosuppressed. On 24 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that the government will distribute a total of £8 million in funding to NHS England to support secondary schools with the vitally important in-school vaccination programme for young people.In addition to over 353,000 CO2 monitors already delivered to education providers, we are also making a total of up to 9,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.We no longer recommend that face coverings are worn in classrooms, teaching spaces or when moving around the premises outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas. Directors of public health may temporarily, and exceptionally, advise individual providers experiencing outbreaks to use face coverings in either communal areas or classrooms, as part of their responsibilities in outbreak management. The contingency framework provides more information on the principles of managing local outbreaks of COVID-19 in education and childcare providers. This framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.

Schools: Coronavirus

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to provide schools and pupils with access to covid-19 lateral flow tests.

Mr Robin Walker: Educational providers can continue to place orders for test kits via the dedicated online ordering channel and should call 119 if they require further advice or support. Orders placed by 5pm each Tuesday will be delivered the following week. 119 can also be contacted for further advice and support.If an emergency replenishment is required, that will be processed and can take up to 48 hours for schools to receive. Schools will be given an expectation as to when they can receive their deliverySchools and further education providers use a different supply route to get their lateral flow tests. The department continues to work with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to ensure education providers are able to receive adequate supplies of test kits.

Further Education: Standards

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to upgrade further education colleges.

Alex Burghart: We have committed £1.5 billion between 2020 and 2026, through the further education (FE) Capital Transformation Programme, to upgrade FE colleges. This programme seeks to tackle poor condition in the FE college estate so that FE colleges are excellent places for young people and adults to learn.

Turing Scheme

Damian Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools in receipt of funding from the Turing Scheme for the 2021-22 academic year will have flexibility to schedule their projects beyond August 2022 in the context of those projects having been affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

Alex Burghart: Schools have the flexibility to change both the destination and the timing of their projects within the 2021/22 academic year and should consider running placements later in the current academic year if they find their planned dates are impeded by COVID-19.The funding period for Turing Scheme projects for the 2021/22 academic year ends on 31 August 2022. The Turing Scheme was allocated funding as part of the Spending Review 2020 to be distributed to Turing Scheme beneficiaries for the delivery of mobilities during the 2021/22 academic year. In line with government spending requirements, any government funding must be used within the period that it has been allocated for.The Turing Scheme has had funding confirmed for the next three years as part of the Spending Review 2021, and providers that could not deliver their mobilities in academic year 2021/22 are encouraged to apply again if they wish to run their activity in academic year 2022/23.

Further Education: Finance

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he will provide in-year funding for Further Education college courses that help tackle skills gaps in the economy.

Alex Burghart: The lagged funding mechanism for 16-19 education provides institutions with clear allocations, allowing them to make plans with confidence. However, from the 2020/21 academic year we have introduced T Levels which are currently funded in-year and have been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses so that the content meets the needs of industry. Further education colleges can also benefit from a High Value Course Premium (HVCP) of £400 per student. The HVCP was introduced in the 2020/21 academic year to encourage and support delivery of courses that are both associated with higher earnings and strategically important. We have announced this premium will increase by 50% to £600 per student in the 2022/23 academic year, to further strengthen the impact of the premium in encouraging and supporting colleges to deliver these key subjects.In the 2021/22 financial year we made £95 million available for further education providers to deliver the free courses for jobs offer, which gives all adults access to their first level 3 qualifications in sector subject areas with strong wage outcomes and the ability to address key skills needs. It was confirmed at Budget that funding will be available for the next three years, and from April 2022 eligibility for the level 3 free courses for jobs offer will be expanded to also include any adult in England who is unemployed or earns under the national living wage annually, even if they have a level 3 qualification or higher.We are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34 billion in 2021/22). The principal purpose of the AEB is to engage adults and provide the skills and learning they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.Currently, approximately 60% of the AEB is devolved to nine Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority. These authorities are now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the AEB to providers. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will continue to be responsible for the remaining AEB in non-devolved areas.ESFA providers’ AEB allocations for financial year 2021/22 have stayed the same as in 2020/21, with adjustments for the impact of devolution and to remove allocations that were for one year only. This was the fairest approach, enabling providers to support local economic recovery in 2021/22.In-year performance management processes and rules are in place and these are detailed in the Adult education budget (AEB) funding rules 2021 to 2022, found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adult-education-budget-aeb-funding-rules-2021-to-2022. For the financial year 2021/22, we are also giving providers the opportunity to earn an additional 3% on top of their ESFA AEB allocation for over-delivery to support growth in adult skills participation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

UK Emissions Trading Scheme

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much revenue was raised as a result of the sale of allowances under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme in 2021; and the total value of the proceeds of that scheme that has been allocated to projects to limit climate change.

Greg Hands: The total revenue raised from the sale of allowances under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme in 2021 was £4,310,021,495. All these proceeds support key government objectives including decarbonisation. The Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 confirmed that since March 2021, the government will have committed a total of £30 billion of domestic investment for the Green Industrial Revolution. As the Government set out in the Net Zero Strategy, this spending package, along with action on regulation and green finance, will keep the UK on track for its carbon budgets and 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution, and establishes the longer-term pathway towards net zero by 2050.

Buildings: Insulation

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what data his Department holds on the number of accredited companies in place to undertake building insulation work in (a) the UK, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Stockport constituency.

Greg Hands: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) endorses and uses the TrustMark registration scheme for installers. Registration provides a high level of assurance, certainty and protection to homeowners looking to have work done in and around their homes. Information on the number of registered companies and details of them can be found on the TrustMark website, including searching by geographical area: https://www.trustmark.org.uk/homeowners/find-a-tradesperson/advance-search?fromSearch=true. For example, a search for all insulation measures by trade description shows there are 863 registered companies covering different building insulation work in the UK, and 201 in the North West.

Energy: Carbon Emissions

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress the Government has made on decarbonising the UK’s energy supply; what the current target for renewables is as a percentage of the energy supply; and when his Department expects the UK to reach that target.

Greg Hands: We are committed to fully decarbonise the power system by 2035, subject to security of supply. Low carbon generation now provides over 50% of the UK’s electricity supply and renewable electricity generation has more than quadrupled since 2010. Renewables will play a vital role in meeting that decarbonisation commitment and the Government is taking major steps forward to deliver on this, for example in December we launched the fourth and largest round of the Contracts for Difference Scheme, to support the deployment of a range of renewable technologies.

Lighting: Regulation

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of the ban on incandescent light bulbs and the phasing out of halogen light bulbs and fluorescent light bulbs on light-sensitive people adversely affected by LED lighting.

Greg Hands: In October 2021, the Government introduced updated energy efficiency measures for lighting products. When forming the Impact Assessment for this legislation, officials considered the health and wellbeing impacts that may arise as a result of the phase out of certain lighting technologies. To account for any adverse health implications this may have on light-sensitive people, there is an exemption built into the legislation to allow alternative light sources to be provided specifically for use by photosensitive patients, to be sold in pharmacies and other authorised selling points upon presentation of a medical prescription.

Energy Company Obligation

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will protect the Energy Company Obligation which provides energy efficiency schemes for the poorest households.

Greg Hands: The Government have committed to extending the Energy Company Obligation Scheme from 2022 to 2026,​ boosting its value to £1billion a year.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has any plans to extend the Warm Home Discount scheme.

Greg Hands: The Warm Home Discount is a key policy in the Government’s strategy to tackle fuel poverty and reduce the energy costs of low-income and vulnerable households. The Government has therefore committed to extend the scheme until 2026, as outlined in the Energy White Paper. The Government consulted on expanding and reforming the Warm Home Discount from 2022. Under the plans, the total spending will increase from around £350 million to £475 million per year, and the value of the rebates will increase to £150. As a result of the additional funding, 780,000 more low-income and vulnerable households will receive rebates on their energy bills every winter, with the majority receiving the money automatically and without having to apply. The Government’s response to the consultation is due to be published this spring, with the expanded and reformed scheme coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.

Fossil Fuels: Carbon Emissions

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with the chairman of (a) the Oil and Gas Authority, (b) Gordon Birrell, executive vice-president of production at BP, (c) Zoe Yujnovich, upstream director at Shell, (d) Al Cook, executive vice-president at Equinor, (e) Sam Laidlaw, chairman of Neptune Energy and (f) Amjad Bseisu, chief executive of EnQuest, on the incompatibility of new oil and gas production with reaching net zero by 2050.

Greg Hands: As is normal, the Government has had meetings with energy suppliers and stakeholders during a period of high global gas prices. While the Government is gradually driving down demand for fossil fuels, there will continue to be ongoing demand for oil and gas over the coming years as the UK transitions to Net Zero.

Housing: Energy

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will implement a single accreditation and enforcement scheme, similar to the Gas Safe Register, for use by the public when installing low carbon technologies in their homes.

Greg Hands: The Government oversees authorisation of a number of competent person schemes, including the Gas Safe Register. This includes schemes covering installers of low carbon technologies, each with relevant accreditation bodies ensuring compliance with Building Regulations. Due to the different specialisms and skills required for competent installers of different technologies there are currently no plans to introduce a single accreditation scheme operator.

Multinational Companies: Sustainable Development

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage major multinational companies to become more sustainable.

Greg Hands: The Government continues to encourage and support UK businesses to set net zero commitments and deliver on them, including through the UN’s Race to Zero, reflected in the fact that 60 FTSE100 companies have signed up. This represents more than tripled a quadrupling in the 12 months up to COP26, as well as over £1.2 trillion in market capitalisation and over £700 billion in annual turnover. High-quality, independently verified net zero plans – not just pledges – are now becoming the norm due to the Race to Zero campaign.

Critical Minerals Expert Committee

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what process was used to select members of the Critical Minerals Expert Committee; who is involved in the Critical Minerals Expert Committee; and whether that committee has met yet.

Greg Hands: The Critical Minerals Expert Committee is chaired by BEIS Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Paul Monks. Members were selected based on recommendations from relevant Government departments. The full membership and further details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-secretary-opens-latest-meeting-of-the-critical-minerals-expert-committee . The Committee has met three times, and the latest meeting was opened by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on 28 January 2022.

Fossil Fuels

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the evolving security situation between the Ukraine and Russia, what steps he has taken to ensure the security of the UK's domestic (a) oil and (b) gas supply.

Greg Hands: The UK has strong oil and gas security of supply. The UK participates in a global market for crude oil and petroleum products and is a significant producer of both. UK demand is met by a combination of domestic production and imports from a diverse range of reliable suppliers led by North America and Norway. The UK’s gas system has delivered securely to date and is expected to continue to function well. We meet around half of our supply from the UK Continental Shelf and the vast majority of our imports come from reliable suppliers such as Norway. Less than 3% of our gas supply in 2020 was sourced from Russia via Liquified Natural Gas. There is no direct pipeline between the UK and Russia.

Private Rented Housing

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many private rented homes have been upgraded through (a) the Energy Company Obligation, (b) the Home Upgrade Grant, (c) the Green Homes Grant and (d) Local Authority Delivery Schemes since 2015.

Greg Hands: The Energy Company Obligation has been in place since 2013. To date it has installed energy efficiency and heating measures in almost 321,000 private rented homes (around 14% of homes upgraded under ECO). Initial funding for the Home Upgrade Grant was allocated in December 2021 as part of the Sustainable Warmth competition. Delivery will commence from early 2022 until March 2023. For the Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme, as of 7th January 2022, 49,389 measures were installed in 43,166 households. The next statistical release will be published on 24 February 2022. The first two phases of funding for the Local Authority Delivery scheme, which has allocated £500 million in grants to Local Authorities, is expected to deliver energy efficiency upgrades to up to 50,000 eligible homes across England.

Business: Coronavirus

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department spent on tackling fraud in coronavirus business support schemes in (a) 2020 and (b) 2021.

Paul Scully: It is difficult to put a figure on the total being spent on tackling Covid fraud as our response involves the contribution of many partners organisations. BEIS and BBB’s response includes: Lender resource identifying fraud, providing information and intelligence for investigations/prosecution, referring appropriate cases to INSS and recovery procedures.INSS resource for enforcement procedures against companies and directorsNATIS investigations, prosecutions and recoveries.Collaboration with a wide range of law enforcement agenciesThe core BEIS Covid loans team. Funding for subsequent years will be determined through the current Business Planning Process.

Business: Coronavirus

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many officials in his Department worked on preventing fraud in the coronavirus business support schemes in each month since April 2020.

Paul Scully: The resource BEIS deployed in counter fraud was proportionate to the level of fraud risk.

Business: Coronavirus

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will publish any strategy it has produced for recovering fraudulent loans made as part of the coronavirus business support schemes.

Paul Scully: The National Audit Office follow-up report into the Bounce Back Loan Scheme recommended the Department produces a formal strategy that sets out the longer-term ambitions, objectives and metrics for the impact of successful counter-fraud activity. We are considering the recommendation and will respond in due course.

Business: Coronavirus

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department produced a strategy for preventing fraud in the coronavirus business support schemes.

Paul Scully: The National Audit Office follow-up report into the Bounce Back Loan Scheme recommended the Department produces a formal strategy that sets out the longer-term ambitions, objectives and metrics for the impact of successful counter-fraud activity. We are considering the recommendation and will respond in due course.

Post Offices: ICT

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to establish an appropriate compensation scheme for the 555 subpostmasters involved in the Group Litigation Order.

Paul Scully: The 555 subposmasters involved in the Group Litigation Order (GLO) agreed a settlement of £42.75m plus costs. In bringing this case they performed a public service; I understand their frustration that they have received less compensation than others. My officials have recently met their representatives to understand the harms which they have experienced.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) the value and (b) proportion of loans made through the Bounce Back Loan scheme that will not be repaid.

Paul Scully: The latest estimates of projected losses in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme are available in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2020-2021.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme: Fraud

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the value of fraudulent loans made through the Bounce Back Loan scheme.

Paul Scully: The latest estimates are available in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2020-2021.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme: Fraud

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the value of fraudulent loans made through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme.

Paul Scully: The latest estimates of projected losses for the scheme are available in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2020-2021.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme: Repayments

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) value and (b) proportion of loans made through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme that will not be repaid.

Paul Scully: The latest estimates for projected losses from the scheme are available in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2020-2021.

Northern Ireland Protocol: Aerospace Industry

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the Northern Ireland Protocol on the UK Aerospace industry.

Lee Rowley: The Government continually assesses how UK industry adapts to and makes the most of Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Department is fully engaged with the Northern Ireland Executive and aerospace businesses in Northern Ireland on how to strengthen this already world-class industrial sector. It is the Government’s priority to deal with issues arising from the Protocol and work with the EU to agree solutions that make the Protocol work better for business.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much (a) the Government has spent on covid-19 vaccines as at 25 January 2022 and (b) the supply of that vaccine is estimated to cost in 2022 and 2023.

George Freeman: We are not able to disclose costs of vaccines procured to date, as details of contracts between the Government and vaccine manufacturers are commercially sensitive. As announced in the Spending Review of October 2021 the Government has now made available £9.6 billion for key COVID-19 programmes and related health spending over this Spending Review period.

Members : Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to respond to the letter of 2 January 2021 from the hon. Member for West Lancashire on fuel prices, reference ZA58375.

George Freeman: My Rt hon Friend the Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change wrote to the hon. Member on 27 January about the increased cost of energy.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

George Freeman: In the last five years, the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy have undertaken the following Post Implementation Reviews (PIR) on primary and secondary legislation. YearTotal PIRsPrimary PIRsSecondary PIRs2017505201810282019615202020317202116016Totals57651 Notes:An individual PIR can cover several pieces of legislation within the same review.Primary PIRs tend to refer to an evaluation of specific clauses within an Act, and not a review of the full Act.This information is only held for internal administrative reasons and may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the past decade.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

George Freeman: The number, and proportion, of post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on primary and secondary legislation in each of the last ten years is not held within the Department. However, the number of PIRs undertaken in the last five years is available as follows. The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy have undertaken the following Post Implementation Reviews (PIR) on primary and secondary legislation. YearTotal PIRsPrimary PIRsSecondary PIRs2017505201810282019615202020317202116016Totals57651  Notes:An individual PIR can cover several pieces of legislation within the same review.Primary PIRs tend to refer to an evaluation of specific clauses within an Act, and not a review of the full Act.This information is only held for internal administrative reasons and may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the past decade.

Horizon Europe: Small Businesses

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has plans to replace the SME Instrument in the EU Horizon programme in the event that the UK and EU fail to ratify the UK’s association to Horizon; how many companies in the UK received SME Instrument funding in the period 2014-20; and how much funding those companies received.

George Freeman: The UK stands ready to formalise our association to Horizon Europe at the earliest opportunity. This remains our priority, but disappointingly there have been persistent delays from the EU. The SME instrument has been replaced under Horizon Europe with the EIC Accelerator. UK companies are already eligible to apply for Accelerator calls ahead of formal association as set out in the EIC Accelerator Guide for Applicants. Under Horizon 2020, UK organisations won a total of nearly €190m from the SME Instrument, with 453 UK organisations participating in the SME instrument and a total of 492 UK participations in the SME instrument. We have always been clear that our priority is to support the UK’s research and development sector and we will continue to do this in all future scenarios.As announced at the Spending Review, in the event that the UK is unable to associate to Horizon Europe, the funding allocated will go to UK science, research and innovation programmes instead. I set out my priorities in such a scenario in an open letter in November, including my ambition for stronger SME engagement.

Life Sciences: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 11 of the Life Sciences Vision published on 6 July 2021, what plans his Department has to improve access to private finance for UK Life Sciences companies; and whether his Department plans to introduce research and development grants for small companies that do not require match funding.

George Freeman: The Government is committed to developing a globally competitive Life Sciences investment ecosystem where private and public Life Sciences companies can access long-term capital within the UK from investors committed to building successful companies here in the UK. To support this, in July 2021, Government launched the £200m Life Sciences Investment Programme. This will leverage around £400m of private sector investment, making around £600m financing available for the sector over the course of the next 10 years. In addition, the Government established an industry-led Life Sciences Scale-up Taskforce, which aims to drive progress on the ease with which Life Science companies can start, grow, and scale up in the UK.

Energy Intensive Industries

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the potential loss of UK businesses in high energy using sectors as a result of the current high gas and carbon prices.

Greg Hands: I recognise this is a worrying time for businesses facing pressures due to the significant increases in global gas prices and its impact on electricity and carbon prices. I have met representatives of the UK’s high energy-using sectors to understand the impact on their business in the past months and extensive engagement with industry continues across government at both a ministerial and official level. Many high energy-using businesses will have hedging strategies in place which help to shield them from exposure to the gas and electricity price rises, while some may be more reliant on current market prices.

Attorney General

Criminal Proceedings

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Attorney General, what steps she is taking to ensure that revised Guidelines on Disclosure will result in improved performance across the criminal justice system.

Suella Braverman: Effective disclosure is a vital part of the criminal justice process and inseparable from the right to a fair trial. I am currently undertaking the first Annual Review of Disclosure to assess how my revised Disclosure Guidelines, instituted in January 2021, are operating. The Solicitor General and I have been meeting with key disclosure stakeholders from a range of geographic areas and professions to hear feedback on the Guidelines. Regular monitoring ensures all those involved in disclosure across the criminal justice system are working together and prioritising a cross-system approach. It also allows me to support efficient disclosure practice at the front-line. I am committed to making the disclosure process an efficient and effective one, and I see the Guidelines as a practical document which can offer principled, clear and useful guidance to all those involved in disclosure.

Fraud: Coronavirus

Pat McFadden: To ask the Attorney General, how many ongoing investigations are underway at the Serious Fraud Office to recover public money lost to fraud and economic crime from the emergency covid-19 support schemes.

Pat McFadden: To ask the Attorney General, how many members of staff at the Serious Fraud Office are working full time on the recovery of public money lost to fraud and economic crime from emergency covid-19 support schemes.

Alex Chalk: Although no investigations have been formally announced, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating a number of suspected fraudulent applications for COVID loans. In order to protect the investigative process, it is not always possible, or even desirable, for investigative bodies such as the SFO to announce investigations prematurely, or provide any details of the matters under investigation. The SFO proactively publishes information about its cases on its website whenever it is appropriate SFO investigations follow the evidence, and their focus or scope may change as an investigation advances. The number of staff working on a specific case will fluctuate throughout an investigation’s lifecycle and will depend on factors such as the complexity of the allegations being investigated, and intelligence gathered or provided.

Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Australia

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Australian government's response to covid-19.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Correspondence

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average response time was for his Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Health Services: Coronavirus

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the allocation by the Government of £270 million to private hospitals to help tackle an Omicron surge, if he will publish the contracts between NHS and private hospitals in respect of the allocation of that funding.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Consultants

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had any (a) financial contract and (b) meetings with (i) Clifford Chance LLP, (ii) FTI Consulting and (iii) Fenchurch Advisory Partners in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: The Department has recorded expenditure between July 2019 and March 2021 with Clifford Chance LLP under a call-off contract from a Crown Commercial Services framework contract for legal work involved in exiting an IT contract. No expenditure is recorded against FTI Consulting or Fenchurch Advisory Partners.Establishing whether officials at the Department have held meetings with these companies could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

Hospitals: Coronavirus

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to ensure that covid-19 patients are not discharged to a virtual ward earlier than is safe to do so.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the covid-19 patients in virtual wards will be made up of those who would have otherwise (a) been fully discharged by hospitals, or (b) had round the clock in-person hospital care.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to maintain virtual wards beyond the peak of covid-19 omicron cases.

Edward Argar: No patient should be discharged until it is safe to do so. Existing guidance states that hospitals should determine the level of support each individual needs to ensure they are placed onto the most appropriate discharge pathway.The COVID-19 virtual ward standard operating procedure provides the entry criteria for a virtual ward and notes that clinical judgement remains paramount for all assessments, particularly for patients with higher risk factors or other complicating medical conditions. Virtual wards provide safe and convenient care for patients. However, if patients require round the clock in-person hospital care, they would not meet the entry criteria for a virtual ward. The standard operating procedure is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/01/C1517-covid-virtual-ward-standard-operating-procedure-v2.pdfNHS England’s operational planning guidance sets out an ambition for the deployment of virtual wards beyond the peak of the Omicron variant. By December 2023, NHS England expect systems to have completed the development of virtual wards, towards a national ambition of 40 to 50 virtual beds per 100,000 population. The operational planning guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/B1160-2022-23-priorities-and-operational-planning-guidance-v2.pdf

Schools: Mental Health Services

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent professional mental health workers belonging to mental health support teams are supporting pupils in schools.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the minimum requirements are for mental health support teams in relation to (a) the number of staff and (b) their roles.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Dermatitis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with eczema in the last three years.

Gillian Keegan: The information is not collected in the format requested.

NHS: Staff

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the effectiveness of (a) inspections and (b) training standards of care among NHS staff.

Maria Caulfield: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 all providers of regulated activities must register with the CQC and ensure they meet the fundamental standards of safety and quality. The CQC monitors and inspects providers and failure to comply with some of the fundamental standards is an offence. Under the Act, the CQC has a range of enforcement powers to ensure providers offer care that is safe and meets people’s needs.Professional regulators set the standards of education and training for regulated professions and approve courses and education providers to ensure that training meets these standards. This includes assurance of the quality of any clinical placements.

Dental Services: Contracts

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on the renegotiation of the terms of the dental contract.

Maria Caulfield: Work to reform the National Health Service dental contract is underway. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, on alternative ways of commissioning services. This aims to improve patient access, reduce health inequalities and make the NHS a more attractive place to work for dentists.

Dentistry: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of dental schools, including at the University of York.

Maria Caulfield: No recent assessment has been made. We have no current plans to increase the number of dental schools in England.

Education: Mental Health Services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2022 to Question 100615 on Education: Mental Health Services, how many school and college children will be covered by the 11 planned mental health support teams.

Gillian Keegan: The exact number of children and young people will be determined by local commissioners in consultation with education setting partners as part of service planning. Each mental health support team is expected to provide sufficient capacity to deliver services to 7,000 to 8,000 pupils, which will usually mean working with an average of 10 to 20 education settings.

Education: Mental Health Services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2022 to Question 100615 on Education: Mental Health Services, how many FTE staff will be employed in each of the 11 planned mental health support teams.

Gillian Keegan: The information requested is not yet available. However, a mental health support team will typically be made up of eight whole time equivalent (WTE) staff, including four WTE education mental health practitioners, three WTE senior clinicians or higher-level therapists, 0.5 WTE team manager and 0.5 WTE administration support officer.

Multiple Sclerosis: Drugs

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to new medicines among people living with progressive forms of MS.

Edward Argar: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraises all new medicines, including for multiple sclerosis, and is committed where possible, to publishing draft guidance at the time of licensing with final guidance published within three months. NICE has published guidance recommending a number of medicines for multiple sclerosis for routine use in the National Health Service. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE.

Cystic Fibrosis: Prescriptions

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with cystic fibrosis in England pay for their prescriptions.

Edward Argar: The information requested is not held centrally. Approximately 89% of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge and extensive arrangements are already in place to help those with the greatest need. Some people with cystic fibrosis may meet the eligibility criteria for prescription charge exemptions and may therefore be in receipt of free prescriptions.

Neurology: Health Professions

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to (a) attract and (b) retain more neurology specialists.

Edward Argar: Neurology is a popular specialty and generally achieves a 100% fill rate for training places, with no significant attrition issues. A new curriculum is being introduced with increased emphasis on working and training in internal medicine and stroke as well as neurology, which will increase the number of trainees in the acute areas of neurology.To improve the retention of all National Health Service staff, the NHS People Plan focuses on actions for organisations to build a more compassionate and inclusive culture. This includes a focus on staff health and wellbeing, support for flexible working and a renewed commitment to tackling inequality. The NHS Retention Programme is seeking to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well.

Dental Services: Retirement

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) age profile of the dental workforce and (b) impact of retirements on the provision of services over the next five years.

Maria Caulfield: No formal assessment has been made. We continue to monitor the number of dentists and dental health professionals in England with Health Education England and the General Dental Council, to inform the number of dental training places and support workforce planning.

Abortion: Disability

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to review the occurrence of abortion in cases of (a) disability and (b) correctible conditions including cleft lip, cleft palate and club foot up to birth.

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to review the occurrence of abortion in the cases of a prenatal diagnosis of Down's syndrome.

Maggie Throup: The Department has no current plans to review the occurrence of abortion in these cases. There is no requirement for the Department to review abortions which occur after a prenatal diagnosis of Down’s syndrome.

IVF: Equality

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the findings of his Department’s review of IVF equality.

Maria Caulfield: The Department undertook an informal policy review on the variation in access to National Health Service fertility services, which was completed in 2021. We are unable to provide the information requested as this was an internal review to inform the development and formulation of Government policy. We intend to set out our initial ambitions in the Women’s Health Strategy, due to be published in spring 2022.

Coronavirus: Screening

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have waited more than 24 hours to receive a covid-19 PCR test result since 1 December 2021.

Maggie Throup: The information is not available in the format requested.

Coronavirus: Screening

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 test kit distributors are contracted to distribute to (a) pharmacies, (b) home delivery companies and (c) schools.

Maggie Throup: There are three test kit distributors contracted to distribute to lateral flow device test kits each to pharmacies, home delivery and schools.

Coronavirus: Screening

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many UK manufactured covid-19 lateral flow tests have been approved by the UK Health Security Agency since 1 September 2021.

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many UK manufactured covid-19 lateral flow tests are being reviewed by the UK Health Security Agency.

Maggie Throup: As at 28 January 2022, no lateral flow device (LFD) tests from either United Kingdom or overseas manufacturers have been approved under the Medical Devices (Coronavirus Test Device Approvals) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 since 1 September 2021. The UK Health Security Agency is currently reviewing sixteen applications for LFD tests to be approved from applicants with a UK address. Information on the location where the tests will be manufactured is not collected.

Coronavirus: Screening

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the difficulty of undergoing covid-19 PCR testing for disabled and neurodivergent children.

Maggie Throup: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has explored tests where saliva is collected through spitting into a receptacle or with a ‘lollypop’ absorbing swab, rather than from nose or throat swabbing, through a usability study in special educational needs settings. However, these types of tests were not accurate enough for our symptomatic testing requirements. The UKHSA continues to review and evaluate the usability of emerging technologies for those in vulnerable settings and populations.

Coronavirus: Air Conditioning

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on protection of people in healthcare settings from infection with covid-19, including the omicron variant, of the study entitled The removal of airborne SARS-CoV-2 and other bioaerosols by air filtration on COVID-19 surge units, by Andrew Conway Morris an others, published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America on 30 October 2021.

Maggie Throup: We have no current plans to make an assessment. We continue to monitor the infection risk in hospitals.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in hospital with covid-19 have not received a covid-19 vaccine.

Maggie Throup: The UK Health Security Agency’s weekly Vaccine Surveillance reports show that between 2 January 2022 to 23 January 2022, there were 4,807 cases presenting to emergency care resulting in overnight inpatient admission who had not been vaccinated.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures are in place to ensure immunocompromised people’s covid-19 vaccine records are amended where third doses have been incorrectly recorded as boosters.

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when covid-19 vaccine records will be amended to show third doses that have been incorrectly recorded as boosters.

Maggie Throup: For those who are severely immunosuppressed, the third primary COVID-19 vaccine dose is recorded as a booster vaccinations. A subsequent booster or fourth dose for eligible severely immunosuppressed patients after a further three months will be recorded as a second booster. Existing data systems support the recording of multiple boosters. All doses administered appear in an individual’s vaccination history and are recorded in the National Immunisation Management System and general practitioner record. An assessment determined that retrospectively updating or amending patient records in the immediate term could risk creating a data quality issue.

Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016; and when he plans to publish that review.

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 will be published before the new Tobacco Control Plan; and whether any recommendation identified from review will be considered when developing the plan.

Maggie Throup: The Department’s response to the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 post implementation review is expected to be published shortly. The review’s report has been submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee and we await the conclusion of its process.The findings and recommendations from the report will be considered during the development of the new Tobacco Control Plan.

Disease Control

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (a) when the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness will be launched, (b) how much funding will be available through the centre and (c) when that funding will be delivered; and if he will make a statement.

Maggie Throup: The Centre for Pandemic Preparedness will be located within the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and will launch later this year. The funding available will be determined through the ongoing business planning process and final confirmation of UKHSA budgets. It is anticipated that funding will be available through the 2021 Spending Review period.

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to provide an update on the outcomes of the ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish the minutes, including details of the UK delegation, from the ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Maggie Throup: All decisions and documentation from the ninth Conference of the Parties, including details of the United Kingdom’s delegation and a video recording is available at the following link:https://fctc.who.int/who-fctc/governance/conference-of-the-parties/ninth-session-of-the-conference-of-the-parties

Care Homes: Visits

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his Answer of 9 December 2021 to Question 90496, what steps his Department is taking to improve compliance with Government guidance relating to visiting residents in care homes.

Gillian Keegan: The Care Quality Commission assesses visiting arrangements as part of its regular inspections of care settings or when investigating complaints. We also work with UK Health Security Agency health protection teams to resolve any local issues with non-compliance. The Department provides guidance and communicates through regular stakeholder meetings, newsletters and social media to state that blanket bans on visiting are not acceptable. The most recent data as of 21 December 2021 shows that 92.9% of care homes in England were accommodating visitors.

Tobacco

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is aware of the statement by Action on Smoking and Health on 7 September 2004 on the legal framework for smoking tobacco and snus in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Maggie Throup: The Department is aware of the statement.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people with a compromised immune system (a) who are eligible for a third dose of the covid-19 vaccine, (b) who are eligible and have been contacted regarding the third dose and (c) who have been contacted and have received the third dose; and how many of those in (a), (b) and (c) have blood cancer.

Maggie Throup: COVID-19 vaccination with a third primary dose for individuals with severe immunosuppression, including eligible patients with blood cancer, commenced on 13 September 2021. NHS England and NHS Improvement identified approximately 504,000 people who may be eligible, who were contacted by text and letter to advise them to discuss options with their clinician. All those eligible have been offered a third primary dose of the vaccine.As of 20 December 2021, 87.7% of individuals identified as severely immunosuppressed have received a third primary COVID-19 vaccination in England. These figures are updated on an ad-hoc basis. Information on the number of these patients with blood cancer is not held centrally.

Further Education and Schools: Mental Health Services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release of 21 March 2021 announcing 400 mental health support teams in schools and colleges, how many of those teams will be in (a) Sheffield and (b) South Yorkshire.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release of 21 March 2021 announcing £79 million for 400 mental health support teams in schools and colleges, how much funding will be allocated to (a) Sheffield and (b) South Yorkshire.

Gillian Keegan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 January 2022 to Question 100615.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on average how many schools does a mental health support team provide services to.

Gillian Keegan: On average, each mental health support team will work across 10 to 20 schools and colleges. Provision is agreed locally, with consideration given to health inequalities and disadvantage.

Alcoholic Drinks: Children

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that parents and children are aware of the Chief Medical Officer’s guidance on underage drinking.

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines on consumption of alcohol by children and young people.

Gillian Keegan: The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines do not include specific guidelines on consumption of alcohol by children and young people. However, advice on alcohol consumption is available at NHS.UK, the Talk to FRANK online resource, and GOV.UK.The National Health Service provides advice that alcohol use in teenage years is related to a range of health and social problems and recommends that children and young people do not drink alcohol before the age of 18 years old. This guidance is available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/should-my-child-drink-alcohol/Education on alcohol use is also a statutory component of relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education in England.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

James Sunderland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to reduce the self-isolation period for people who test positive for covid-19 in a care home to five days in line with other guidance on self-isolation.

Gillian Keegan: From 31 January 2022, the isolation period for care home residents has been reduced from 14 to 10 days. All residents, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be able to reduce their period of self-isolation to five days if testing arrangements are followed and test results are negative. Residents who are unable to be tested should isolate for 10 days.

Health Services and Social Services: Homelessness

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of how many current Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies make reference to (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Keegan: No assessment has been made as this information is not currently held centrally.The Government recently announced £640 million in the Spending Review to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. This will build on progress already made, including support for substance misuse through the Rough Sleeping Initiative.

Hyperactivity: Diagnosis

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help NHS England improve waiting times for ADHD diagnosis.

Gillian Keegan: Clinical commissioning groups and National Health Service trusts should have due regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline ‘Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management’. This guideline aims to improve the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults and children and the quality of care and support that people receive. The guideline does not recommend a maximum waiting time for people to receive ADHD treatment. We are working with local authority children’s social care, education services and charities to develop packages to support neurodivergent children throughout the diagnostic process, including children with ADHD and their families.

Social Services: Food

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made, or plans to make, of the impact of the right to practise philosophical beliefs relating to diet on the mental wellbeing of those receiving care, in the context of the White Paper entitled People at the Heart of Care.

Gillian Keegan: Local authorities should facilitate personalised care in line with their legal duties. The white paper states that personalised care should be the norm, allowing choice, control and support to live independent lives. This includes dietary requirements and preferences where appropriate.

Respiratory System: Diseases

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on the potential merits of publishing a breathlessness pathway to support people with respiratory illnesses.

Gillian Keegan: We have had no specific discussions. However, a national multidisciplinary expert group is developing a pre-diagnostic breathlessness pathway guide to support timely and appropriate diagnosis for patients presenting with non-acute breathlessness. The guide will be published in due course.

Social Services: Food

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps care regulators are taking to ensure appropriate care for people with diets arising from philosophical or religious beliefs.

Gillian Keegan: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and acts to ensure that providers take account of preferences and religious and cultural backgrounds when providing food and drink. Under Regulation 14 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, providers must meet any reasonable requirement for people with nutrition and hydration needs arising from their preferences and religious or cultural background. The CQC’s Assessment Framework takes into account the personalisation of care with regards to nutrition where providers are inspected and rated. The CQC has a range or enforcement options it can take against providers who do not comply with the regulations.

Care Workers: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of social care staff who are unvaccinated against covid-19.

Gillian Keegan: As of 23 January 2022, 23,662 or 4.3% of staff in all adult care homes and 49,924 or 12.3% of staff in independent Care Quality Commissioned-registered domiciliary care providers are not yet reported as being vaccinated with their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.However, a proportion of these staff will be medically exempt from vaccination or may not currently be deployed for reasons such as maternity leave. Other members of social care staff may have also received their vaccination but have not yet informed their employer.

Disability: Children

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on maintaining access to health and care services for disabled children and families during the 2021-22 wave of omicron covid-19 infections.

Gillian Keegan: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Education discuss a range of issues related to health and care services. We are working with the Department for Education on the health and care system’s role in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system through the SEND Review. We are also looking at how we can improve the provision of and access to health and care services for disabled children.

Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to amend the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 prior to the review date in 2025, in the context of the White Paper, People at the Heart of Care.

Gillian Keegan: The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 will be debated on 8 February 2022. We are reviewing the 2014 Regulations with the Care Quality Commission to identify areas of activity that either need to be brought into or out of scope of Regulations with a view to a further amendment. Once proposals have been finalised, the Department will publish a public consultation asking for views on the proposed amendments to the scope of the 2014 Regulations.

Autism: Health Services

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for autism assessments; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Keegan: We are investing over £13 million of additional funding in 2021/2022 to improve assessments and diagnosis of autism and address waiting times for assessments in England. This includes £10.5 million through the COVID-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan and £2.5 million to reduce diagnosis waiting times for children and young people. In addition, we are funding the expansion of an early identification pilot for healthcare and education staff to assess children who may be autistic within schools.

Dental Services: Contracts

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent consideration he has made of the adequacy of the dental contract; and whether he plans to make reforms to that contract.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England and NHS Improvement are leading on reforms to the current dental contract, working closely with the Department and the British Dental Association. The reforms aim to improve patient access, reduce health inequalities and make working for the National Health Service more attractive for dentists and their teams.

Dental Services: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £50 million for NHS dental services announced by the Government on 25 January 2022, how he plans to distribute that funding.

Maria Caulfield: The following table shows the distribution of this funding by region.RegionFunding allocationNorth West£7,310,000North East and Yorkshire£8,633,000Midlands£8,904,000East of England£5,731,000South West£4,726,000South East£6,887,000London£7,809,000

Department of Health and Social Care: Remote Working

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff in his Department will be permitted to work from home after 1 February 2022; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: The Department is transitioning to a new model of hybrid working. Staff are expected to work partly in the office and partly from home, with a minimum of four days a month in the office unless there is a business or wellbeing reason not to do so.

Members: Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 8 November 2021, reference ZA58199, in relation to the covid-19 booster vaccine roll out.

Edward Argar: We replied to the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.

Members: Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 29 October 2021, reference ZA58120, in relation to covid-19 booster vaccines.

Edward Argar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 January 2022 to Question 96819.

Care Homes: Visits

Lucy Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that all care homes allow family and friends of residents to visit regularly.

Gillian Keegan: The Department regularly reviews and assesses the effectiveness of COVID-19 guidance for care homes. From 31 January 2022, there is no limit on the number of visitors each resident can have and no additional requirements for normal visits outside of the home. All residents should be allowed to nominate an essential care giver, who can continue to visit during an outbreak. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors providers where concerns have been raised about visiting arrangements. The CQC has continued inspecting, raising safeguarding alerts where applicable and following up with residents, families, the provider, local authorities and UK Health Security Agency health protection teams.

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities: Cystic Fibrosis

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities supports the needs of people with cystic fibrosis.

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the impact of health inequalities on people with cystic fibrosis.

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on the (a) remit and (b) objectives of the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities; and what plans his Department has for ongoing future engagement.

Gillian Keegan: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) was established to tackle disparities in access to and experience of health services and health outcomes.  While there have been no specific discussions with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the OHID will develop relationships across national and local government, the National Health Service, the wider public health system and stakeholders.NHS England commissions an annual report from The Cystic Fibrosis Registry, to provide NHS clinicians and commissioners with information on cystic fibrosis services in England and inform decisions to address health inequalities. The latest report, published in December 2021, is available at the following link:https://www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-12/CF_Annual%20Report%202020_V8.pdf

Care Workers and Health Services: Parkinson's Disease and Dementia

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure health and social care staff receive specific Parkinson’s and dementia training.

Gillian Keegan: As announced in our recent White Paper, ‘People at the Heart of Care’, we will invest £500 million over the next three years in the training and development of social care staff. This includes co-producing a sector-wide Knowledge and Skills Framework, building on existing resources including the Dementia Training Standards Framework. We are also providing additional training places and qualifications for the workforce, including those working to support individuals with Parkinson's and dementia.

Church Commissioners

Church of England: Public Relations

Chris Loder: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 101841 on Church of England: Public Relations, how much Lambeth Palace spent on public affairs in the financial year 2020-2021.

Andrew Selous: It is not possible to disaggregate expenditure on all public affairs activity from the overall total working costs for the Archbishop of Canterbury in the financial year 2020-21 without incurring disproportionate cost. During this period the public affairs team at Lambeth Palace comprised a social and public affairs adviser, research officer and a PA. The PA role will be reduced to half time in 2022.

Ministry of Justice

Legal Aid Scheme: Contracts

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many firms of solicitors held a (a) civil and (b) criminal legal aid contract as of 28 January 2022.

James Cartlidge: There are currently 1,067 firms who hold a Criminal Legal Aid Contract and there are currently 1,381 firms who hold a Civil Legal Aid Contract. This data is correct as at 5 January 2022. Please note that firms may have one or more office and may hold a contract to provide civil legal aid, criminal legal or both civil and criminal legal aid services. The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to secure additional provision where necessary.

Television Licences: Fees and Charges

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions for non-payment of the BBC licence fee there have been in each of the last 15 years; and how many of those (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions were of (A) men and (B) women.

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions for non-payment of the BBC licence fee there have been in each of the last 15 years, by (i) parliamentary constituency and (ii) local authority.

James Cartlidge: MOJ has published prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes for England and Wales, with a filter for sex, from December 2010 to December 2020, available in the ‘Outcomes by Offence data tool’, available here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx Select ‘191A Television licence evasion’ in the Offence filter; prosecutions can be found on row 23 and convictions can be found on row 24.Select ‘male’ or ‘female’ in the sex filter to view the number of prosecutions and convictions for men and women. These figures can be found for 2005 to 2015, using the same filters as above, here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/524326/cjs-outcomes-by-offence.xlsx  The number of prosecutions and convictions for television licence evasion between 2005 to 2020, broken down by sex, can be found in the attached tables for ease. The Ministry of Justice does not hold information broken down by constituency.Table (xlsx, 22.4KB)

Victims: Public Consultation

Anna McMorrin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Delivering justice for victims: A consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system, and individually granted extensions for accessibility and exceptional pressure, what the process is; how long that process takes; and what steps his Department plans to take in the event that outstanding requests are made after the consultation deadline on 3 February 2022.

Tom Pursglove: We have listened to concerns from the victim sector and key stakeholders about their ability to respond to the consultation. The department is willing to consider individual extension requests of up to 14 days on the grounds of accessibility and exceptional pressure on organisations as a result of COVID-19.To request an extension, individuals and organisations must contact the official consultation mailbox (victimsbillconsultation@justice.gov.uk) clearly setting out the reason for, and length of the extension, as it will be considered against the application of these criteria to the specific individual/organisation. Officials will consider and respond to requests as soon as possible.In order to ensure that all responses receive equal consideration, requests should be submitted before the consultation deadline passes. Our extension policy does not apply to outstanding requests submitted after the consultation deadline, which will necessarily be treated differently and considered on a case-by-case basis.

Prisoners: Terrorism

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners are serving convictions for offences under the Terrorism Act or related offences.

Victoria Atkins: As reported in the latest statistics released on gov.uk, there were 218 persons in custody for terrorism or terrorism-connected offences in Great Britain (as at 30 September 2021). We have a range of capabilities to manage the risk posed by terrorist offenders, and to support their rehabilitation. Risk management is underpinned through a multi-agency, end-to-end case management process. Following the attacks at Fishmongers’ Hall, Whitemoor Prison, Streatham, and Reading in 2019 and 2020, the Government is investing heavily in counter terrorism in prison and probation – with more specialist staff and stronger legislation allowing for tougher sentences for serious terrorism offences. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-quarterly-update-to-september-2021/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-and-subsequent-legislation-arrests-outcomes-and-stop-and-search-great-britain-quarterly-u#terrorist-prisoners

Prisoners' Release

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been released from prison in each of the last three years for which records are available; how many of those prisoners were released to (a) a fixed address, (b) HMPPS bridging accommodation and (c) no fixed address; and how many of those released to no fixed address have (i) reoffended and (ii) reoffended and returned to prison.

Kit Malthouse: Data on the number of prisoners who have been released is published as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication by the Ministry of Justice.The total number of prisoners who have been released in each of the last three years is given in the following table:Year201820192020Number released69,62262,77153,253 Data on the accommodation status of prisoners who have been released is published as part of the Prison and Probation statistics publication by the Ministry of Justice.The attached table shows the numbers of prisoners who were released to (a) a fixed address, (b) HMPPS bridging accommodation and (c) no fixed address from 2018-2020. The following table provides the number of individuals released from prison to no fixed address and subsequently (i) reoffended and (ii) reoffended and returned to prison is provided in the table below:Number of adult reoffenders with no fixed address, 2017/18 to 2019/20, England and Wales1, 2, 3 2017/182018/192019/20Total number of adult offenders released from prison62,93658,10453,777Number of reoffenders with no fixed address35,6885,3435,195Number of reoffenders with no fixed address who returned to prison 43,2523,1082,973 NotesA proven reoffence is defined as any offence committed in a one-year follow-up period that leads to a court conviction or caution in the one year follow-up period or within a further six-month waiting period to allow the offence to be proven in court.The annual average figures have been calculated by taking an average of the four preceding three monthly offender cohorts. This may therefore result in a single offender being included in an annual cohort more than once.No fixed address includes individuals who identify as sleeping rough; and individuals who identify as homeless but have not been identified as sleeping rough. In some cases, it is not recorded whether an individual that is identified as homeless is rough sleeping. These cases have been included in this category. Figures are based on the first reoffence for which an offender returned to custody. Each offender will therefore only appear once in this category. To note the numbers released from prison will differ between each of the tables driven mainly by different time periods and different counting rules.Table (xlsx, 20.2KB)

Magistrates: Allowances

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of expenses available to lay magistrates.

James Cartlidge: Magistrates are an essential part of the justice system and their commitment to giving their time to dispense justice in their communities is greatly appreciated. As such, the department recognises the need to ensure magistrates are not left out-of-pocket for having conducted judicial duties. In April 2021, the department published a new magistrates expenses policy, following consultation across the magistracy.This revised policy includes a number of changes to make the magistracy more attractive to those in work or who incur carer or childcare costs as a result of judicial duties. This includes increasing the upper payment threshold for Financial Loss Allowance (FLA) claims by 16%.

Department for International Trade

JCB: Human Rights

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the UK National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises has received an update from JC Bamford in response to its recommendation that the company (a) write a statement of policy which should expressly state its commitment to respect human rights and (b) carry out human rights due diligence to assess actual and potential human rights impacts; and if she will publish that information.

Penny Mordaunt: The UK National Contact Point (UK NCP) operates independently of the Department for International Trade. In line with its Rules of Procedures and the Final Statement published in November 2021, the UK NCP will request an update from JCB on the implementation of its recommendations in November 2022, which is one year from the date of the publication of its report. The UK NCP will then issue a follow up statement which will also be published on gov.uk.

Overseas Trade: Israel

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her department is taking to increase trade between the UK and Israel.

Penny Mordaunt: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has committed to enhancing and improving the UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement. The United Kingdom published a Call for Input on February 1st to hear the views of businesses and wider society on how to improve our £4.8 billion trade relationship. Israel is one of the world’s most dynamic and innovative economies and this will be a first step in strengthening our trade relationship even further.

China: Lithuania

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment the Government has made of the compatibility of steps taken by the government of the People’s Republic of China to block Lithuanian imports with (a) the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and (b) other World Trade Organization agreements.

Penny Mordaunt: The Department for International Trade notes with concern the actions taken by China against Lithuanian goods and EU products with Lithuanian content. It also notes the request for consultations that the EU has made at the World Trade Organization (WTO) with respect to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other WTO agreements on this issue. We stand with all WTO members in rejecting economic coercion.

Trade Agreements: Antibiotics

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the forthcoming divergence of EU and UK farm antibiotic usage regulations on UK trade arrangements; and if she will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: Businesses wishing to export to the EU will need to meet the EU’s SPS requirements, just as imports to the United Kingdom have to meet our biosecurity import standards. The use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed remains banned in the United Kingdom under retained EU law. HM Government is committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals and it remains our intention to strengthen our national law in this area. As such, we are currently reviewing the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 and will set out proposed changes as part of a public consultation during 2022.

Food: Imports

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the recommendation of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, the National Food Strategy and the Climate Change Committee, whether she plans to establish a set of core standards for food imports.

Penny Mordaunt: HM Government is committed to upholding the United Kingdom’s high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. We will continue to promote robust food standards nationally and internationally. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains our standards on environmental protections, animal welfare, animal and plant health and food safety. This maintains the same high level of protection for both domestic and imported products. All food imports must comply with our import requirements. The United Kingdom already prohibits, for example, the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported meat products.

Trade Agreements: Australia

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, in the context of the Trade and Agriculture Commission and the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement, what progress her Department has made in carrying out the duty under Section 42 of the Agriculture Act to report on (a) whether and (b) to what the proposed trade agreement with Australia is consistent with the maintenance of UK levels of statutory protection in relation to human health; which agency is providing that advice; and what remit she plans for that report to have; and if she will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: The Department for International Trade (DIT) has started work to produce a report under S42 of the Agriculture Act. DIT will be drawing on advice from a number of sources, including the independent Trade and Agriculture Commission. On human health protections, DIT is working with the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland to ensure the report is robust and comprehensive. The remit of the S42 report is as set out in S42 of the Agriculture Act 2020.

Department for International Trade: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Penny Mordaunt: The Department for International Trade (DIT) has not undertaken any post legislative reviews of primary legislation. The number of post legislative reviews undertaken by DIT on secondary legislation is not held within the Department.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Sri Lanka: Tamils

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the report by the International Truth and Justice Project, entitled Sri Lanka: Torture and Sexual Violence by Security Forces 2020-21, published in September 2021, what steps her Department is taking to support the Tamil population of Sri Lanka; and what steps her Department is taking in response to the recommendations for UN member states in that report.

Amanda Milling: The UK Government takes very seriously the allegations of torture and sexual violence in the report 'Sri Lanka: Torture and Sexual Violence by Security Forces 2020-2021'.The Minister for South Asia, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, has raised the importance of these issues on several occasions with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris. During his visit to Sri Lanka of 18-20 January, he raised serious concerns around the deteriorating human rights situation when he met the President, Foreign Minister, and other members of the Sri Lankan Government. The Foreign Secretary raised the importance of upholding human rights when she met Foreign Minister Peiris on 26 October 2021.We will continue to support the monitoring of the human rights situation and accountability in Sri Lanka by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council resolution 46/1 on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.

Government Departments: Wines

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2022 to Question 104398 on 14 January 2022, what the value was of wine from the Government's wine cellar that was consumed in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20,(c) 2020-21 and (d) 2021-22 to date.

Vicky Ford: For the Financial Years 2018-19 and 2019-20 the overall value of wines used was as outlined in the Bi-Annual Report on the GH Wine Cellar, placed in the Library of the House.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-hospitality-wine-cellar-bi-annual-statement-2018-to-2020/government-hospitality-wine-cellar-bi-annual-report-2018-to-2020The figures for 2018 - 2020 were as follows:2018-19 - £57,780.002019-20 - £48,689.00.The value of wines used in FYs 2020-21 and 2021-22 has not yet been calculated and will be published in the next Bi-Annual Report on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar 2020-2022, later this year.

Northern Ireland Protocol: Christmas Cards

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what level of surcharge has been applied under the Northern Ireland Protocol to Christmas cards sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Full implementation of the Protocol would introduce burdensome customs requirements on post and parcels sent from GB to NI, including those that are 'business to consumer' and 'consumer to consumer'. A grace period for these requirements is currently in place.Nonetheless, we have seen disruption to supplies of post and parcels into NI. This includes the introduction of surcharges for GB to NI deliveries and price differentiation, while over 200 businesses have stopped delivery into NI.We are also aware of incidents where deliveries into NI have incorrectly been subject to customs formalities. Following detailed checks, we are unaware of any examples where Christmas cards ended up being subjected to a fee or surcharge.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Politics and Government

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and what steps the Government is taking to help maintain peace in that country.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The UK takes seriously talk of secession and other threats to undo the progress of the last twenty-six years in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). These are clear challenges to the peace and stability envisaged by the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP). Those responsible must cease this destabilising and divisive rhetoric. As a member of the UN Security Council and Peace Implementation Council Steering Board, the UK is committed to upholding the GFAP in BiH. The UK coordinates with our partners to support BiH's territorial integrity and to maintain the peace stabilisation force (EUFOR) and the Office of the High Representative. We work closely with various multinational bodies such as the Council of Europe, NATO, the OSCE and UN to encourage the authorities in BiH to meet their obligations to those who elected them. On 13 December, the Foreign Secretary hosted Western Balkans Foreign Ministers at Lancaster House, and took forward discussions on how to support stability in BiH. Following this meeting, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to the Western Balkans, Sir Stuart Peach, visited BiH and reiterated the UK's enduring commitment to the country.

Russia: Ukraine

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure a planned and adequate humanitarian response, including the provision of food, medical aid and support for displaced people, in the event of a further escalation of threats by Russia on the Russia-Ukraine border.

Chris Heaton-Harris: As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, any further military incursion into Ukraine by Russia would bring massive consequences, including coordinated sanctions to impose a severe cost on Russia's interests and economy. Diplomacy and dialogue is the only way out of the current situation. The UK continues to work intensively with our allies and partners and stands ready to provide support.

Baha'i Faith: Religious Freedom

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to promote freedom of religion or belief for Baha’is.

Vicky Ford: The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. Promoting the right to FoRB is one of the UK's longstanding human rights priorities.We remain deeply concerned about the severity and scale of violations and abuses towards the Baha'i community in different parts of the world. Bilaterally, Ministers and officials regularly raise specific cases of concern, and do not shy away from challenging those we believe are not meeting their obligations whether publicly or in private. For instance, On 22 April 2021, The Minister for the Middle East, North Africa and North America, outlined to Parliament in a Westminster Hall debate the efforts of the UK Government to hold Iran to account for its mistreatment toward followers of the Baha'i faith.

Christianity: Females

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the implications for its policies of Aid to the Church in Need’s report, entitled Hear Her Cries, published on 28 November 2021.

Vicky Ford: We have taken note of Aid to the Church in Need's report entitled "Hear Her Cries" published in 2021 and will study its contents .The UK Government ensures our human rights policy work considers intersectionality of human rights, for example, the importance of gender-based violence, forced marriage and conversion, which is often experienced by women and girls from religious or belief minority communities.In 2020, the Minister of State responsible for human rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, launched the Declaration of Humanity by Leaders of Faith and Leaders of Belief. The Declaration calls upon leaders from many faiths and beliefs to dismantle harmful misinterpretations of religious texts used to justify acts of sexual violence and to tackle the stigma facing survivors of this violence. Over 50 leaders, have already signed it.

Iran: Nuclear Power

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for the Middle East Peace process of Iran’s potential non-adherence to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

James Cleverly: Iran has been in non-compliance with its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) commitments since 2019 and its nuclear programme is more advanced today than it has ever been before. We urge Iran to halt all activities in violation of the JCPoA without delay and take the opportunity in front of them in the JCPoA Vienna negotiations to restore the nuclear deal. Iran has also continued with its destabilising regional activities. The UK remains firmly committed to the two state solution as the best way to deliver Palestinian self-determination and ensure a safe and secure Israel.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Paul Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress she has made on (a) securing the release of Nazanin Zaghari- Ratcliffe and (b) resolving outstanding repayments to Iran.

James Cleverly: We remain committed to securing the immediate and permanent release of unfairly detained British nationals in Iran, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz. The Foreign Secretary and I continue to raise Iran's practice of detaining British dual nationals with our Iranian counterparts. Our Ambassador in Tehran also continues to raise these cases with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The IMS debt is a longstanding issue and we have been consistently clear that we continue to explore options to resolve this 40-year old case. We will not comment further as discussions are ongoing.

Iran: Nuclear Power

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure that international sanctions are imposed on Iran in the event that that country refuses to dismantle its nuclear programme and cease its regional activities.

James Cleverly: The UK has over 200 sanctions designations in place against Iran including in relation to human rights, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. This includes against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety. The UK is committed to working with the international community to ensure Iran abides by international laws and norms and is held to account for its destabilising activity in the region.We are currently engaged in negotiations in Vienna aimed at restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). A restored JCPoA would provide for Iran's civil nuclear needs. If a deal is not swiftly concluded, and Iran continues its nuclear escalation, Iran will be responsible for the collapse of the deal. In this scenario we would carefully consider all options in partnership with our allies, including sanctions.

Russia: Ukraine

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps she has taken since 1 January 2022 to help de-escalate the risk of conflict between the Ukraine and Russia.

Chris Heaton-Harris: As the Prime Minister made clear in his statement to Parliament on 25 January, we are working in lockstep with Allies and partners to challenge Russia's threatening behaviour, and to make clear the severe costs to Russia of any further military incursion. The Foreign Secretary spoke to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba on 4 January, ahead of joining an extraordinary meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on 7 January. She met the NATO Secretary General in Brussels on 24 January, and spoke to US Secretary of State Blinken on 25 January and German Foreign Minister Baerbock on 28 January. The Minister for Middle East, North Africa and North America attended the NATO Russia Council on 12 January, and discussed Ukraine with the US, French and German Foreign Ministers in Berlin on 20 January. I spoke to the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Poland and Ukraine on 18 January and the Ukrainian Ambassador to London on 27 January. The Foreign Secretary has also engaged in recent weeks with other Allies, including Poland, Slovakia and Turkey.

International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to join the board of the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

James Cleverly: We support the objectives of the US Middle East Partnership for Peace Act and we will continue to engage with the US to identify opportunities for further collaboration. I outlined the UK's support for increasing dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians at the Alliance for Middle East Peace's 'Light the way' gala on 12 December.

Iran: Nuclear Power

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will use the snapback provision to reimpose sanctions on Iran in the context of the recent trend of breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by Iran.

James Cleverly: Iran has been in non-compliance with its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) commitments since 2019 and its nuclear programme is more advanced today than it has ever been before. We urge Iran to halt all activities in violation of the JCPoA without delay and take the opportunity in front of them in the JCPoA Vienna negotiations to restore the nuclear deal. If a deal is not swiftly concluded, and Iran continues its nuclear escalation, Iran will be responsible for missing the opportunity to restore the JCPoA and for bringing about the collapse of the deal.In the event of the JCPoA collapsing, we would carefully consider all options in partnership with our allies, including sanctions.

Ukraine: EU External Relations

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts to support Ukraine in the context of recent Russian activity.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Foreign Secretary is in ongoing contact with her EU and other counterparts, including EU Foreign Policy Chief Borrell, France, Sweden, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States. Her most recent conversations with EU counterparts were with Irish Foreign Minister Coveney and German Foreign Minister Baerbock, both on 28 January. She also met the NATO Secretary General in Brussels on 24 January. The Minister for Middle East, North Africa and North America discussed Ukraine with the US, French and German Foreign Ministers in Berlin on 20 January.

Jerusalem: Palestinians

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Middle East, North Africa and North America of 25 January 2021, Official report 846, what recent representations she has made to the Israeli Government to object to the destruction of the Salhiya family home, and their subsequent homelessness, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, by Israeli forces.

James Cleverly: The UK is clear that in all but the most exceptional of circumstances, demolitions and evictions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. On 19 January, I [Minister Cleverly] urged the Government of Israel to stop these practices.

Conflict Prevention

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2022 to Question 106711 on Conflict Prevention, how much and what proportion of the allocation given in the FCDO Annual Report and Accounts for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation for the 2021-22 financial year will be allocated to the Conflict Directorate.

Vicky Ford: A total of £27.3 million has been allocated to the Conflict Directorate in 2021-22, this is the full allocation given in the FCDO Annual Report and Accounts for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation for the 2021-22 financial year.

Tigray: Armed Conflict

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that perpetrators of grave violations of children’s rights by all parties to the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia are held to account.

Vicky Ford: We are extremely concerned by reports of widespread human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia committed by all sides to the conflict including against children. All those responsible for human rights violations and abuses should be held to account.The Foreign Secretary, as Chair of the G7 Foreign and Development Minister's meeting, made a statement on 12 December 2021 that called for an additional independent investigation into human rights violations as recommended by the Joint Investigation report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The UK supported the Human Rights Council resolution of 17 December 2021 that mandates an independent and transparent mechanism for investigation and redress of human rights violations. On 21 January I announced £14.5 million of new funding to the crisis in Ethiopia of which £4.5 million is for peacebuilding and human rights. Part of this funding will go towards building the capacity of the EHRC, including their capacity to effectively and safely investigate human rights violations, which will support efforts to hold perpetrators to account for abuses, including violence against children and conflict-related sexual violence. The UK will continue to support the UN and independent, transparent and impartial investigations and will work to ensure that those responsible for atrocities are held to account.

East Africa: Humanitarian Aid

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the humanitarian response in conflict and drought-affected areas in (a) Ethiopia, (b) South Sudan, (c) Somalia and (d) Kenya includes (i) child protection and (ii) education services.

Vicky Ford: The UK is deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. On 17 January, I announced £17 million of UK emergency humanitarian support via the Crisis Reserve to address drought and food insecurity needs in Ethiopia (£5 million), South Sudan (£3 million), Somalia (£8 million) and Kenya (£1 million). I stated that catastrophic droughts and floods, combined with ongoing conflicts and poor governance in Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia, risk pushing hundreds of thousands of people into famine.On 21 January I announced £14.5 million of new funding for the crisis in Ethiopia, of which £5 million is for health and education services for people affected by the conflict. As the conflict continues, children, especially girls, are at increased risk of gender-based violence, being coerced into marriage, and sexual exploitation and abuse.The UK provides humanitarian assistance sufficient for an estimated 2 million people in South Sudan through the provision of life-saving services such as food, water, sanitation, health and nutrition. The HMG-supported South Sudan Humanitarian Fund has allocated $20 million to issues like flooding, including $1 million to World Health Organization (WHO) for flood response.The UK supports child protection services in Somalia through partners such as UNICEF. In 2021, UK funding supported community based awareness raising for approximately 30,000 people, to address harmful social norms and strengthen the protective environment for children and women. In addition, UK-funded education projects are improving water supplies in schools and providing additional support to teachers and students. The UK-supported Global Partnership for Education has supported accelerated funding to be mobilised to finance the government's drought response in schools.In Kenya, new UK support will deliver life-saving nutritional assistance to 26,000 children in those areas worst affected by drought.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Minister for Asia's oral contribution of 25 January 2022, what the basis is for his statement that there is no evidence that the intellectual property rights waiver would help to save lives.

Amanda Milling: The UK Government is working to ensure developing countries can access COVID-19 vaccines. Our significant early commitment to COVAX has already helped to deliver more than 1 billion doses to developing countries. The UK has delivered over 30 million doses to countries in need already and we are managing our vaccine supply so that all vaccines are either used as quickly as possible in our domestic programme or shared internationally. The UK Government has not seen evidence that intellectual property is a barrier to the production or supply of COVID-19 goods, including vaccines. Whilst we recognise and share concerns regarding the lack of access to vaccines in parts of the world, we must focus on the real challenges to vaccine equity. These include: wider manufacturing and supply constraints; supply chain issues like export restrictions; pressure on health systems; and vaccine confidence. We will continue to work to overcome these challenges. Waiving intellectual property rights will not help. We will continue to promote voluntary licensing and technology transfer partnerships which are making a real difference to vaccine production.

Afghanistan: Politicians

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has held discussions with displaced Afghan MPs; and if she will meet those Afghan MPs to discuss their concerns about Afghanistan and people who are unable to leave that country.

James Cleverly: Ministers and officials engage with a wide range of Afghans to discuss their concerns and ensure we have the best possible understanding of the situation in Afghanistan. This includes former parliamentarians, civil society, religious and ethnic minorities and female activists. Most recently, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth spoke with displaced Afghan parliamentarians in January 2022.

Multinational Companies: Sustainable Development

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking with her international partners to encourage major multinational companies to become more sustainable.

Amanda Milling: The UK Government works closely with international partners and major multinationals to encourage them to become more sustainable.As an example in December 2021 under UK's Presidency of the G7, Ministers met with CEOs and seniors from 19 major food and agriculture companies to launch the G7 Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSI). This is a new commitment of 22 leading food and agriculture companies headquartered in G7 countries to take action to improve the environmental and social impact of their supply chains and business operations. Ahead of COP26, we set up a business advisory council of global leaders from the private sector, encouraging members to work with their peers and supply chains to drive action. This group includes Ikea, Unilever and is co-chaired by Legal and General Investment Management's CEO. Further, we have encouraged companies to sign up to Race to Zero, requiring businesses to set net zero targets by 2050 and have credible action plans to get there. By Jan 2022, over 5000 companies had joined. (SDG13: Climate Action)

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Written Questions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to answer Question 108507 from the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury.

James Cleverly: Written Parliamentary Question 108507 was answered on 28 January 2022.

Armenia: Churches

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the destruction of churches in Armenia on freedom of religion or belief in that country.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The UK Government remains deeply concerned over the alleged destruction and desecration of religious and historically important cultural heritage sites in and around Nagorno-Karabakh before and after the 2020 conflict. In a meeting with the Armenian Ambassador on 20 January, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief underlined these concerns. We continue to urge both Azerbaijan and Armenia to provide UNESCO with unrestricted access to the region and, more widely, to engage with the OSCE Minsk Group to secure a sustainable, peaceful resolution to ongoing regional tensions.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Annual Reports

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to table 4.2 on page 231 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, Published on 20 January 2022, HC692, how training, safety and welfare is defined.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to table 4.2 on page 231 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, Published on 20 January 2022, HC692, if he will provide examples of spending recorded as training, safety and welfare.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to table 4.2 on page 231 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, Published on 20 January 2022, HC692, if he will to provide a breakdown of spending between the three categories of training, safety and welfare.

Jeremy Quin: The expenditure regarding training, safety and welfare (including medical costs) encompasses the following cost categories in the Department’s accounts.  DESCRIPTION Total in 2020-21 Accounts Training - External Training - Military£178,968,840.57Training - External Training - Civilian£36,408,734.46Welfare - Medical-Non Hospital treatment£6,509,528.78Welfare - Medical - Health Services£32,442,697.20Welfare - Medical Supplies Direct Supply£6,675,968.11Welfare - Schools & Community Relations£16,455,451.19Welfare Services£44,270,793.37Welfare - Specific Grants to Charities£11,400,914.55Welfare - Social and Recreation£4,244,310.85Welfare - Food Services£22,748,261.30Welfare Food - Purchase£50,028,772.60Safety - Clothing Services£17,004,183.44Safety - Clothing - Purchase/Repair£25,616,993.82Welfare - Life Support£32,554,259.90Welfare - Medical-Support Equipment£13,782,084.41Safety - Regulation£23,428,805.56Total£522,540,600.11

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pensions

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the administrative cost has been of running the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pensions scheme in each year from 2005.

Leo Docherty: The information is not held.Some of the administrative cost of running the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pension scheme forms part of the Defence Business Services (DBS) budget allocated to the provision of veterans' services. I refer the hon. member to my previous answer to Question 105354 which provided the annual budget for Veterans Services.Other administrative costs such as infrastructure and information technology come from other DBS budgets.To attempt to allocate administrative costs to the running of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pensions scheme would be potentially misleading and could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.Veterans UK; Finance (docx, 16.5KB)

Immigration: Armed Forces

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to publish the results of the Immigration Fees Public Consultation on settlement fees applicable to non-UK veterans wishing to remain in the UK.

Leo Docherty: Although a publication date cannot be provided at this stage, I wish to reassure the hon. Member that the Government remains committed to this issue. Once collective agreement for the final policy has been secured the Government's response will be published on the Government website.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department has not yet published its 2019 research on the effectiveness of benefit sanctions; and if she will place a copy of that research in the Library.

Mims Davies: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 77445.

Long Term Unemployed People

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people classed as long term unemployed; and how that figure compares to the number before the covid-19 outbreak.

Mims Davies: Those who are classified as long term unemployed have been out of work and are available for and searching for employment for 12 months or more. The latest data available, from the independent Office for National Statistics, covering Sep-Nov ’21, is summarised in the table below.  Total  (aged 16+)Rate (aged 16+)Latest (Sep-Nov ’21)428,00030.9 %Change since Covid-19 (Dec-Feb ’20)+121,000+8.4 %pts Throughout the pandemic the UK Government has provided historic levels of support to the economy – a total of over £400 billion. This includes key DWP programmes such as Restart and Kickstart alongside other measures to boost work searches, skills and apprenticeships. Our support was in addition to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.We have launched 'Way to Work’, a concerted drive across the UK to help half a million people currently out of work into jobs in the next five months. We will be bringing employers into jobcentres and matching them up with claimants. This is good news for employers who need to fill vacancies and for our claimants.

Refugees: Employment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2022 to Question 98278, on Refugees: Employment, for what reason that data is not available.

Mims Davies: Information on Refugees is not included in the datasets underpinning routine publication. To access the original data and carry out necessary quality assurance would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants are in the intensive work search group.

David Rutley: Universal Credit statistics uses the term ‘conditionality regime’ in place of conditionality groups and labour market regime. The intensive work search group is part of the labour market regime. The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit by conditionality regime, is published and can be found in Table 1 of the ‘People on Universal Credit’ dataset on Stat-Xplore at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of steps taken by the Scottish Government to complete full data transfer from her Department to Social Security Scotland at the earliest opportunity.

Chloe Smith: The Scottish Government is accountable for these matters.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of mandatory reconsiderations for employment and support allowance and personal independence payment benefits claims in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: The information for the financial years covered by the request are detailed in the tables below:  2019-20  (£m)2020-21 (£m)PIP£23.7£24.8ESA£6.6£1.6 Cost figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1mData Source: ABM The cost figures quoted are estimated DWP level 1 operating costs, including both direct delivery staff and non-staff costs. Non-staff costs are only those costs incurred in local cost centres, relating to direct delivery staff. Please note that the data supplied is from the Departmental Activity Based Models. This data is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standards. It should therefore be treated with caution. The Departmental Activity Based staffing models are a snapshot of how many people were identified as undertaking specified activities as assigned by line managers.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the introduction of Adult Disability Payments in Scotland on the alignment of case law on that matter in (a) Scotland and (b) the rest of the UK.

Chloe Smith: The Scottish Government has not yet introduced Adult Disability Payment which will, over time, replace Personal Independence Payment for people in Scotland. DWP will keep relevant legal issues, including case law, under review.

Department for Work and Pensions: Correspondence

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average response time was for her Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Guy Opperman: The Department does not record the information requested. Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers . Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Scottish Government on data sharing between the two governments for the purpose of administrating devolved social security payments.

Chloe Smith: Both DWP and the Scottish Government have dedicated Devolution Programmes to implement the relevant changes introduced by the Scotland Act 2016. These work closely together and regular discussions take place between officials, including on issues relating to data sharing. Discussions are held at ministerial level through the regular Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare and bilateral meetings between the relevant DWP and Scottish Government ministers take place as required.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Nature Conservation

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure that Local Nature Recovery Strategies (a) cover the entire country and (b) successfully evolve into a national network.

Rebecca Pow: The Environment Act (section 104:2) requires there to be Local Nature Recovery Strategies covering the whole of England with no gaps and no overlaps. The Government anticipates that there will be around 50 Local Nature Recovery Strategies at roughly county scale. Precise boundaries will be established by the Defra Secretary of State on a case-by-case basis so that every Local Nature Recovery Strategy covers an area that is both large enough to plan for nature recovery effectively and meaningful to local people. We are currently engaged in a process with local stakeholders to appoint responsible authorities to lead the preparation of Local Nature Recovery Strategies.We recognise the importance of collaboration across Local Nature Recovery Strategy areas, and we are looking at ways to best support them to become a coherent national network to support nature recovery.

Nature Conservation: Local Government

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the ability of local authorities to deliver their Local Nature Recovery Strategies.

Rebecca Pow: The Government recognises the importance of having sufficient capacity in Local Authorities to prepare and help deliver Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) and has committed to funding all new burdens on local authorities from the Environment Act 2021.We have undertaken assessments of capacity requirements for LNRSs alongside other key policies, including Biodiversity Net Gain. Our five LNRS pilots especially have informed our understanding of resource requirements for local authorities, the types of skills, as well as the amount of time required to prepare LNRSs. We have published these findings in a lessons learned report.In addition, we have worked with local authority representative groups, and eNGOs to understand local authorities' current readiness.LNRSs are intended to inform a number of policy areas and will therefore be delivered through a variety of mechanisms and organisations operating in a complementary way. These could include mandatory biodiversity net gain, environmental land management schemes, the strengthened NERC duty on public bodies, private funding streams and use by local planning authorities, for example, in informing the preparation of local plans.

Nature Conservation

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to implement the national Nature Recovery Network as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan.

Rebecca Pow: The Nature Recovery Network will be a bigger, better and increasingly connected network of places that are richer in wildlife, support the recovery of our species, and are more resilient to climate change and other pressures. The Network will provide wider environmental, economic and social benefits, including carbon capture and recreational enjoyment.At the core of the Network will be our existing best areas for nature, including protected sites and National Nature Reserves. We will also create or restore 500,000 hectares of additional wildlife-rich habitat beyond these existing areas.The Environment Act lays the foundation for the Nature Recovery Network. It establishes spatial mapping and planning tools to help inform nature recovery, including Local Nature Recovery Strategies. It also introduces duties and financial incentives to drive change on the ground, which sit alongside our plans for introducing new schemes that reward farmers and land managers for delivering environmental benefits. We have launched a National Delivery Partnership, led by Natural England, to support the delivery of the Network which now has cross-sector representation from over 400 organisations.

Biodiversity

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to implement the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on Biodiversity in the UK: bloom or bust, HC 75, published on 30 June 2021.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which recommendations he plans to implement from the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on Biodiversity in the UK: bloom or bust, HC 75, published on 30 June 2021.

Rebecca Pow: The Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report, ‘Biodiversity in the UK: Bloom or Bust’ was published in September 2021 on the Committee’s website: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/448/biodiversity-and-ecosystems/publications/. Our response set out how we are acting against each of the Committee’s recommendations. Since then, we have brought forward the first Environment Act in over 20 years, with ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, including restoring and enhancing biodiversity. The Act’s requirement to set a new, historic legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, underlines our ambition, on which we continue to act.

Countryside: Access

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to introduce payments to landowners for the purposes of increasing access to the countryside; and what plans he has to introduce those payments as part of the Environmental Land Management schemes set out in the Agriculture Act 2020.

Victoria Prentis: Support for increasing access into the countryside will be made through existing schemes and support mechanisms already in place. We are still considering our approach of how support for increasing and maintaining access to the countryside in our future schemes including our environmental land management schemes.

Food: Consumption

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of food consumed in the UK was produced in the UK in (a) 2021 and (b) 1987.

Victoria Prentis: The ratio of food we produce in the UK compared to our food supply need remains high against historical levels. This ratio temporarily increased after World War 2 as production subsidies and intervention schemes drove over-production, and it stood at 74% in 1987. In addition to the end of such schemes, other things have happened since including changing consumer choices which has increased demand for a wider range of food, some of which we cannot produce in the UK for all or part of the year. For example, UK consumers currently consume significantly more rice than they did in 1987, all of which must be imported. The most recent figures for 2020 (published in 2021) show we produced 60% of our food supply need but 74% of food that we can produce for all or part of the year. These figures have remained steady throughout this century. We are almost 100% self-sufficient in poultry, carrots and swedes. Sectors like soft fruit have seen a trend towards greater self-sufficiency with an extended UK season displacing imports.

Cetaceans: Faroe Islands

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what further steps he will take, following Lord Goldsmith's letter to the Faroese Fisheries Minister in October 2021, to advocate for the end of Faroese cetacean hunts.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether conservation and animal welfare concerns related to Faroese cetacean hunts will be discussed during the annual negotiations under the UK-Faroes Framework Agreement on Fisheries.

Victoria Prentis: The Faroe Islands are in no doubt as to the UK position on cetacean hunts, which we raise at every relevant opportunity, including in person. Minister Goldsmith wrote to the then Faroese Fisheries Minister on 23rd September 2021 to express the UK’s opposition on both animal welfare and conservation grounds to the hunt of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that took place on the 12th September and the continued hunting of cetaceans in the Faroe Islands. In their response, the Faroese government confirmed that they were launching an evaluation of regulations on the catching of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. While the government welcomed this news, we have advocated to the Faroese government that they expand the scope of the evaluation to incorporate all species of cetacean that are hunted and consider the wider benefits of cetaceans to the ecosystem. I recently reiterated to the new Faroese Fisheries Minister, Árni Skaale, that the UK looks forward to seeing the outcomes of the review. We will continue to call on all whaling nations, including the Faroe Islands, at every relevant opportunity to cease their whaling activities. Instead, we encourage them to consider the many economic and social benefits that responsible cetacean watching can bring to coastal communities. We also continue to encourage the Faroe Islands to engage in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS).

Agriculture: Sustainable Development

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support sustainable farming.

Victoria Prentis: The Sustainable Farming Incentive is one of three new Environmental Land Management schemes that reward farmers and land managers for producing public goods. It will pay farmers for actions they take (going beyond regulatory requirements) to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way. The aim is to make the Sustainable Farming Incentive attractive and accessible to a wide range of farmers, to help them maintain or introduce sustainable practices as a foundation for more advanced improvements available through other components of Environmental Land Management. We are working with English farmers, in partnership, to design our new systems and support the choices that they make for their own holdings. This year we will start to roll out core elements of the scheme, before gradually expanding the scheme until all elements are available from 2024/25 onwards. The core elements of the Sustainable Farming Incentive that will be available in 2022 are: arable and horticultural soils standard; improved grassland soils standard; moorland and rough grazing standard; and Annual Health and Welfare Review. We plan to open the Countryside Stewardship 2023 offer in February 2022 with offers for Higher tier, Mid-tier, Wildlife offers, and Capital grants, for agreements starting on 1 January 2023. The scheme will also be open to new applicants in 2023 (for agreements starting in 2024).   We will help farmers in Countryside Stewardship make the transition to our new schemes from 2024. We have also increased payment rates under Countryside Stewardship, which saw a 40% increase in applications this year.

Northern Ireland Protocol: Food

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list all the food products that are currently blocked from entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain as a result of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Victoria Prentis: The vast majority of food products can currently move from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI). However, there are various products affected by EU prohibitions and restrictions which apply on movements from GB to NI due to the Northern Ireland Protocol. This includes bans on specific products, such as mechanically separated meat, Live and Un-depurated Live bivalve Mussels from class b and class c waters and seed potatoes.POAO goods moving from GB to NI must be accompanied with an Export Health Certificate, unless it moves under STAMNI (Scheme for Temporary Agri-food Movements to Northern Ireland). The UK has been successful in achieving a derogation from the EU prohibition on chilled meat. Under our Unilateral Declaration chilled meat may continue to move from GB into NI using model health certificates while we work with the EU on a more sustainable solution. [ Declaration by the United Kingdom on Meat Products: 30 June 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)]There are also certifications for products regulated for plant health purposes, such as most fruit and vegetables, which must be accompanied by a Phytosanitary Certificate. All fresh produce is covered by STAMNI and moves without plant health paperwork. However, not all traders are eligible for STAMNI.This is not sustainable, and it is an example of the bottom line that the Protocol is not working. We are proposing a common-sense solution: goods going to the EU should go through regulatory checks and customs formalities, and those staying in the United Kingdom should not. That means no checks or documentation for goods moving from GB to NI and staying there.

Nutrition

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure healthy food choices remain affordable.

Victoria Prentis: The Government monitors consumer food prices using the Consumer Prices Index including Housing costs (CPIH). Food prices are traditionally affected by a wide range of domestic and international factors - from local manufacturing costs to global commodity prices. Given strong competition in the UK food retail sector, retailers normally try to absorb short-term cost pressures for a period of time. In any given year, food prices tend to go up and down. Food prices are set individually by businesses and it is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies.In December 2021 we published the first UK Food Security Report which included data on household food security and food prices. We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country can access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million.

UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list the types of kosher food that currently cannot be sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Victoria Prentis: The vast majority of Kosher foods, including Products of Animal Origin (POAO), can currently move from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI). A small proportion of POAO commodities are classed by the EU as ‘Prohibited and Restricted’ (P&R), which ordinarily would prevent them from moving into the EU or NI from a third country. At present, these POAO P&R goods are still able to move from GB to NI by virtue of the ‘standstill period’, which has preserved existing grace periods for GB-NI trade while we work with the EU on a more sustainable solution. This includes the Kosher commodities that fall into a P&R category. However, POAO (including Kosher) commodities moving from GB to NI must be accompanied by an Export Health Certificate, and also meet further regulatory conditions. The certification process is complicated and time consuming, which has rendered the supply of Kosher commodities to the small NI Jewish community uneconomical for most suppliers. The community can therefore technically access Kosher goods, but in practice they are still unable to do so by virtue of how the NI Protocol works. This is not sustainable, and it is an example of the bottom line that the Protocol is not working. We are proposing a common-sense solution: goods going to the EU should go through regulatory checks and customs formalities, and those staying in the United Kingdom should not. That means no checks or documentation for goods moving from GB to NI and staying there, such as Kosher foods for the NI Jewish community.

Pet Travel Scheme

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the UK re-joining the EU pet passport scheme.

Jo Churchill: The UK has been formally ‘listed’ as a ‘Part 2’ third country for the purposes of the EU pet travel scheme, which means that new rules apply to pet movements from Great Britain (GB) to the EU and to Northern Ireland. The pet health and documentary requirements for such pet travel are set out under the EU Pet Travel Regulations. Defra recognises the impact that these changes are having on pet owners and assistance dog users. We are continuing to seek agreement from the European Commission on awarding GB ‘Part 1’ listed status and recognition of the UK’s tapeworm-free status, and we see no valid animal health reason for these not to be granted. Achieving these would alleviate a number of pet travel rules for all travellers. We have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity and we are engaging with the EU to progress this issue.

Home Office

Arson: Durham

Paul Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of a potential inconsistency in the recording of arson statistics in relation to the ​Durham police constabulary and the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service.

Kit Malthouse: The official statistics on crime and fire do not have a comparable definition of arson which is why the two sets of figures may appear inconsistent.When a victim reports arson to the police, it will be recorded by them in line with the legal definition set out in the Criminal Damage Act of 1971 which is ‘an act of attempting to destroy or damage property, and/or in doing so, to endanger life’.In contrast, the official statistics on fire publish information on the number of deliberate fires attended by the fire service where the motive for the fire was ‘thought to be’ or ‘suspected to be’ deliberate. This is a broader definition than the criminal offence of arson and will include fires that have not been reported to the police.

Home Office: Correspondence

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average response time was for her Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Kevin Foster: The Department works to a target of responding to 95% of Hon. Members written correspondence within 20 working days.Performance has been impacted by a very significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, including the unprecedented amount of correspondence about the situation in Afghanistan. Ministers and officials have also had to instigate a remote process for drafting and signing correspondence during the period of COVID-19 restrictions.The Department recognises it has not been able to meet service standard in some cases but has implemented an action plan to clear backlogs and drive up performance. The Department has recruited additional resources and expects to return to answering Hon. Member’s correspondence within service standard by the end of March 2022.Data about intake and performance in answering Hon. Members correspondence are published quarterly with the latest Quarter available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-q3-2021 and this includes data up to and including the end of quarter 3 - 2021.

British Nationality

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who entered the UK on a Tier 1 (Investor) visa have (a) applied for and (b) been granted UK citizenship.

Kevin Foster: The data is not available. Immigration statistics for the year ending September 2021 are published at Migration statistics. While these include statistics for naturalisation as a British citizen based on residence, they do not identify the specific routes of entry used to secure this residence.

Members: Correspondence

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Cardiff Central of 22 October 2021, 24 November 2021 and 8 December 2021.

Kevin Foster: I apologise for the delay. A response was sent on 2 February.

Offences against Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with his counterparts in the Devolved administrations to tackle child sexual exploitation.

Rachel Maclean: The UK Government is committed to tackling the horrific crime of child sexual exploitation, to ensure that our children are kept safe and that offenders are brought to justice.Through our Tackling Child Sexual Abuse strategy, we continue to drive improvement at pace in the response to child sexual exploitation in England and Wales. This includes funding a Tackling Organised Exploitation programme, which supports police to uncover and prosecute more exploitation of children, and a Prevention Programme, delivered by the Children’s Society, which delivers tailored interventions to improve understanding of this crime amongst frontline professionals and wider partners.The services involved in tackling child sexual exploitation, including health, social services and policing, are devolved, and as such it is for the Governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland to drive work in those nations to tackle this issue though we continue to share learning and best practice.

Children: Abuse

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking alongside children's charities to safeguard victims of child abuse following the murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Rachel Maclean: Leadership on child safeguarding policy is principally shared between the Home Office, Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care. We have worked closely across Government to ensure we learn what needs to change in the light of Arthur's tragic death.The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has been asked to deliver an independent review identifying what went wrong in this terrible case, and what needs to be improved nationally as a result. We have also commissioned a Joint Targeted Area Inspection to examine how all the relevant local agencies are working together to protect and safeguard children in Solihull.The Home Office are supporting the police to develop their understanding of the complexity, sensitivity and risk involved in working with vulnerable victims of abuse and exploitation, through:funding the College of Policing’s training for senior police officers on safeguarding and public protection issues,funding the police-led Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme, which identifies and promotes good practice and effective interventions to address vulnerability.Government also works closely with voluntary sector partners to identify national trends and to ensure sufficient support to children and families at the local level. This was particularly critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the Government has provided additional funding to boost the support provided by children’s charities, including:£7.6 million for national children’s charities who offered safeguarding services for vulnerable children.£11.4 million since June 2020 to the See, Hear, Respond programme, which helped vulnerable children and young people whose usual support networks have been impacted by the pandemic.£1.8 million to expand and promote the NSPCC helpline for adults to use to report safeguarding concerns.

Slavery

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to section 2.4.55 of the 2021 UK annual report on modern slavery, what progress she has made on embedding the survivors’ voice in future policy on modern slavery.

Rachel Maclean: The Government is committed to continuously strengthening our approach to modern slavery. Survivors hold a vital role in informing policy development, and we have worked to embed survivor voice in a number of ways.In March 2021, the Government announced that it would be undertaking a review of the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy. A revised strategy will allow us to build on the progress we have made to date, adapt our approach to the evolving nature of these crimes and continue our leadership in tackling modern slavery. As part of this work, we are considering further ways to embed survivor voice in our future policy-making and international programmes. We have engaged with survivors and survivor groups as we develop a new modern slavery strategy, including through our Modern Slavery Strategy Implementation Group. We are also in the process of commissioning research to inform the strategy, which will seek survivors’ views on their experiences of modern slavery and on the most appropriate ways to engage survivors in our future policy-making and international programmes.We have worked with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct independent inspections of the services provided to victims of modern slavery under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC). During inspections CQC seek to engage with survivors to gather their views on the quality of safehouse accommodation and outreach services provided and to gain feedback on their experiences. Furthermore, there are processes embedded within the MSVCC which provide victims with the opportunity to raise complaints via the official MSVCC complaints procedure.We also engage survivor groups through our regular stakeholder engagement on modern slavery policy.

Domestic Abuse: Scotland

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to roll out the Ask for ANI scheme to more independent pharmacies in Scotland.

Rachel Maclean: The Ask for ANI Codeword Scheme celebrated it’s one-year anniversary earlier this year.The voluntary scheme was rolled out to pharmacies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has now been adopted by over 50% of pharmacies in the UK and over 100 official disclosures have been made.We continue to work with partners across the UK, including pharmacy associations, to encourage more pharmacies to sign up to the scheme.

British Nationality

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she publish the (a) timeline and (b) consultation process for drafting the statutory guidance for the Nationality and Borders Bill; and where responsibility for the guidance for the different parts of that Bill sits.

Tom Pursglove: Any statutory guidance will be developed in line with usual process, which includes any requirements to consult. The timetable for implementing the guidance will be dependent on the passage of the Nationality and Borders Bill.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Local Government: Subsidiary Companies

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it is the Government's policy that a local authority in England should be able to set up a company in which it holds 100 per cent of the shares for the specific purpose of buying council owned assets with money provided on loan from government and private sources; and if he will make a statement.

Eddie Hughes: Local authorities are responsible for their own capital strategies and remain accountable to their electorate for their decisions. They may invest and lend to companies to deliver capital projects within their local objectives, but must appropriately comply with the Prudential Framework to make sure that such decisions are prudent, affordable and comply with the Best Value duty. Local authorities should not use companies to circumvent the requirements of the capital framework.On 28 July we announced that we are strengthening the capital system to support effective, sound capital decisions that facilitate local objectives and government priorities and makes the best use of taxpayer's money. Our approach includes local authority companies and complex capital transactions. One of the ways in which we will be addressing local authority company concerns is through a review on governance and skills, which seeks to identify and address governance issues in local authority borrowing and investing, including where companies are used. Furthermore, we maintain close engagement with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and they are producing best practice guidance for local authorities on council-owned companies which will focus on strengthening risk management and internal monitoring and assurance processes. The guidance will be available early 2022.

Local Government Finance

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department's policy on the flexible use of capital receipts by local authorities in England includes using the receipts from the sale of capital assets to a local authority controlled company for the purpose of funding current revenue expenditure; and if he will make a statement.

Eddie Hughes: The current statutory guidance on Flexible Use of Capital Receipts which is applicable until 31 March 2022 details that qualifying expenditure is expenditure on any project that is designed to generate ongoing revenue savings in the delivery of public services, transform service delivery to reduce costs, or transform service delivery in a way that reduces costs or demand for services in future years for any of the public sector delivery partners. Within this definition, it is for individual local authorities to decide whether a project qualifies for the flexibility as they are best placed to decide which projects will be most effective for their areas. Government is not able to provide advice.Each local authority’s Section 151 officer has statutory responsibility for proper administration of financial affairs; and authorities using the flexibility will need to satisfy their auditors that they have complied with the Direction and supporting Statutory Code in the normal way. The Code requires local authorities to prepare a strategy setting out the amounts spent on allowable projects on a project by project basis and to get this approved by full Council or the equivalent. This can be done as part of the annual budget setting process.It was announced as part of the local government finance settlement in February 2021 that the Department would extend the flexibility to use capital receipts for further three years and at the time we said we would follow up with the details of the flexibility. Information on the parameters beyond 31 March 2022 are still in the process of being finalised. We understand that local authorities need time to plan for their spending over the years and will publish these details shortly.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund will be first distributed to Northern Ireland.

Neil O'Brien: I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 111742 on 28 January 2022.

Windrush Generation: West Midlands

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding was allocated to the West Midlands region as part of the Windrush Day Grant Scheme in 2021.

Eddie Hughes: The Windrush Day Grant Scheme provides £500,000 per year to organisations across England working with the community, to encourage a shared understanding of the Windrush story through education, celebration and recognition. The 2021 Windrush Day Grant Scheme allocated £42,720 funding to organisations based in the West Midlands. These organisations were the Birmingham Museum Trust, Citizens for Change, Equality and Inclusion Partnership (Equip) and Telford African and Afro-Caribbean Resource Centre.

High Rise Flats: House Insurance

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the increase in buildings insurance premiums for leaseholders in residential blocks as a result of building safety concerns.

Christopher Pincher: The Government is aware that some buildings are currently unable to secure adequate, affordable building insurance. On the 28 January, I called on the FCA and the CMA to conduct a review of the buildings insurance market to review buildings insurance premiums for people living in medium and high rise blocks of flats. In his oral statement on the 10 January, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities noted Lord Greenhalgh’s intention to work with insurers on new industry-led approaches that bring down the premiums facing leaseholders. Lord Greenhalgh has written to the Association of British Insurers, encouraging them to investigate the possibility of an industry-led risk pool with their members.

United Kingdom

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the Union.

Neil O'Brien: The UK Government is committed to delivering for citizens across the UK. The Autumn Budget was a budget for the whole of the United Kingdom, including first allocations of levelling up funds UK-wide. This spending review also provided the largest annual block grants for Devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in real terms, of any spending review settlement since 1998.We are committed to working collaboratively with the Devolved Governments to deliver in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our response to Covid-19 has shown we are at our strongest when we work and come together as one United Kingdom. We will continue to work together across the UK as we recover from the pandemic.

Levelling Up Fund: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much Northern Ireland has received as at 25 January 2022 from the Levelling up Fund.

Neil O'Brien: The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund invests in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK.The first round of the Fund received significant interest from bidding authorities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. £48.8 million was awarded to 11 successful projects in Northern Ireland in the first round, announced at the October Spending Review.The second round of the Levelling Up Fund will open in Spring 2022, and further details will be shared in due course.

Levelling Up Fund: Eastwood

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the Eastwood Levelling Up Fund bid will need to be submitted.

Neil O'Brien: The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport and investing in cultural and heritage assets. We will open round 2 in Spring 2022 and will share further details in due course.

Regional Planning and Development

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Levelling Up white paper will include (a) improving life expectancy and (b) healthy life expectancy among its core aims.

Neil O'Brien: Levelling up means empowering local leaders and communities to seize their own destiny; boosting living standards, particularly where they are lower; spreading opportunity and improving public services, particularly where they are weak; and restoring local pride across the UK.More details are set out in the White Paper which was published today.

Regional Planning and Development

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department will lay a copy of the Levelling Up White Paper in the House of Commons.

Neil O'Brien: Levelling up is a transformative agenda and the Department’s priority is to produce a White Paper which matches our ambition, building on existing action we are already taking across Government and setting out a new policy regime that will drive change for years to come.The Levelling Up White Paper was published earlier today.

Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership: Finance

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding was allocated to the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership as part of the Getting Building Fund in 2021.

Neil O'Brien: Within the West Midlands, the Getting Building Fund was allocated to the West Midlands Combined Authority, to a total of £66 million. The full detail of the Fund can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/getting-building-fund.

Countryside

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Levelling Up White Paper will include plans to take specific and targeted steps to realise the social and economic potential of the countryside.

Neil O'Brien: Levelling up means empowering local leaders and communities to seize their own destiny; boosting living standards, particularly where they are lower; spreading opportunity and improving public services, particularly where they are weak; and restoring local pride across the UK.The UK Government recognises that each place and geography is different, and is committed through the Levelling Up White Paper to fulfil the social and economic potential of all places and geographies across the UK by building on their individual strengths and opportunities.More details are set out in the White Paper which was published today.

Regional Planning and Development: Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to progress made on the construction of the Elizabeth Line, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of additional investment in areas of Romford beyond the town centre.

Neil O'Brien: Romford will benefit from the progress being made in the delivery of the Elizabeth Line. The Elizabeth Line comes under the remit of the Mayor of London and Transport for London is responsible for delivering the project.The Elizabeth Line is already delivering significant benefits right across the UK, including strong UK-based supply chain, new trains and services to Reading, Heathrow and Shenfield. The Elizabeth line will transform the rail network in London, carrying up to 200 million passengers a year, increasing the capacity of the network by 10%, reducing overcrowding, and helping deliver £42 billion of investment.On the August 2020, Crossrail Limited announced that the central section of the railway will open in the first half of 2022 with initial services between Abbey Wood and Paddington Elizabeth line stations. The Elizabeth line is in the complex final stages of delivery.Following the opening of the central section, full services across the Elizabeth line from Reading and Heathrow in the west and between Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east, will be introduced.The London Borough of Havering is also benefitting from £13.2 million from the Local Growth Fund (delivered through the Local Economic Action Partnership); two lots of £231,057 from the Reopening High Streets Safely and Welcome Back Funds; and £3.8 million from the Community Renewal Fund.In addition to funding already secured, more of the Government’s £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund is to be made available over the coming months, with round two bidding set to open in Spring 2022. Whilst Havering was unsuccessful in securing a share of the £1.7 billion round one funding, we encourage unsuccessful bidders to reapply.Today, the Government published the Levelling Up White Paper that builds on existing action being taken across Government, setting out a new policy regime that will drive change for years to come.

Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment) Bill

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2021 to Question 64598, for what reason it is the Government's policy to object to the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment) Bill receiving a second reading; and if he will make a statement.

Eddie Hughes: The Government was unable to support the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment) Bill printed in June 2020, because the proposal for maintenance costs not to be included in pitch fees at the next review would have had a negative impact on residents.The Bill printed on 24 January 2022 set out a new proposal to change the pitch fee review inflationary index from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index. We will consider the proposal in detail and make a statement at the Bill's Second Reading.

Housing: Energy

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that new homes in England are energy efficient.

Eddie Hughes: The Government remains committed to meeting its target of net zero emissions by 2050 and recognises the important contribution that the energy efficiency of buildings has to make in meeting it.From 2025, the Future Homes Standard will ensure that new homes produce at least 75% fewer CO2 emissions compared to those built to the 2013 standards. No further energy efficiency retrofit work will be necessary to enable them to become zero-carbon over time as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.In December 2021 we introduced an uplift in energy efficiency standards that delivers a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions and provides a stepping-stone to the Future Homes Standard. Once the uplift comes into force, in June 2022, new homes will be expected to produce around 30% fewer CO2 emissions compared to the previous 2013 standards.The uplift marks an important step on our journey towards a cleaner, greener built environment and it supports us in our target to reduce the UK's carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Rough Sleeping: Finance

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what Government funding is available to support local authorities in providing joined up services to support rough sleepers.

Eddie Hughes: The Government has committed to spending over £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next 3 years, with multi-year funding enabling local authorities and their partners to with work together to better plan services and maximise efficiencies.This includes the Rough Sleeping Initiative which provided an investment of £202 million this year to local authorities to enable them to collaborate and creatively work with their various partners to provide services to support people off the street and move people on from emergency accommodation. There is also the £435 million Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme which provides funding to local authorities and their partners to deliver 6,000 move-on homes and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping or who have a history of sleeping rough.

Scotland Office

Fishing Catches: Scotland

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the 2022 fishing catch limits agreed with the EU and Norway.

Mr Alister Jack: The UK Government engages extensively with the Scottish Government on all fisheries matters, including recent negotiations with the EU and Norway to establish catch limits for shared stocks for 2022. My Department has held regular meetings with Defra to ensure Scotland's interests were fully represented. The deal between the EU-UK-Norway has given the UK increased catch levels on Whiting, Herring and Haddock, and the deal between the UK and Norway achieved a great outcome for the Scottish fleet, gaining greater access to Norwegian waters.

Renewable Energy: Scotland

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the export potential of Scotland's renewable sector.

Iain Stewart: I regularly discuss issues of importance to Scotland with Ministerial colleagues including Scotland’s renewable energy sector exports.Scotland is well positioned to become a centre of global excellence in energy and climate technology and the Government is committed to supporting Scotland’s clean energy exports.

United Kingdom

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps his Department is taking to promote the Union and level up regional interconnectivity.

Iain Stewart: We have invited the Scottish Government to work in partnership to support the delivery of UK-wide transport infrastructure.This is one aspect of how the government is levelling up regional interconnectivity, by improving travel in and between local communities so people can move more easily around the country and access jobs and opportunities.

Coronavirus: Scotland

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on ongoing support provided by the armed forces in Scotland in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Mr Alister Jack: I am in regular contact with Ministers in the Ministry of Defence about the support provided by our armed forces in Scotland in response to Covid-19.Currently, service personnel are providing acute care to a number of hospitals in Scotland, driving ambulances and providing other services to the Scottish Ambulance Service, and they are administering vaccinations across Scotland.

Energy: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he plans to provide support to the Scottish energy sector to secure investment in the Government’s Net Zero industrial cluster funding programme, including the Acorn Project; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of adding the Acorn Project as a third cluster to the Track 1 2025 programme.

Mr Alister Jack: Following a robust, specialist-led assessment, the UK Government has identified the Acorn project as the reserve cluster for Track-1 as part of the Carbon Capture Usage and Storage Cluster Sequencing process. Since this was announced, the Government has engaged extensively with Acorn to allow them to continue their development and planning, with the support of over £40m in UK Government funding. As previously stated, there will be further opportunities for Acorn to deploy, including through a future allocation process for ‘Track-2’ clusters.

Cabinet Office

Government Departments: Procurement

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2022 to Question 105512  on Government Departments: Procurement, whether his Department has responsibility for the social value of Government spend.

Michael Ellis: Individual departments are responsible for their own commercial decisions, including the award of contracts. In 2020, we launched a new model to deliver social value through Government's commercial activities. Central government organisations should use this model to take account of the additional social benefits that can be achieved in the delivery of its contracts, using policy outcomes aligned with this Government’s priorities.

Office for Veterans' Affairs: Finance

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what budget will be allocated to the Office for Veterans Affairs for the financial year 2022-23.

Leo Docherty: The 2022-23 budget allocation for the Office for Veterans’ Affairs has not yet been confirmed as the Cabinet Office's business planning process is still ongoing.

Veterans: Suicide

Owen Thompson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the written ministerial statement, entitled, Recording and Reporting Suicides, HCWS299, 22 September 2021, whether his Department will take evidence from the Scottish Government in the process of developing a new method of reporting and recording veterans' suicides.

Leo Docherty: The Office for Veterans’ Affairs is working with the Office for National Statistics to develop plans for the new method of reporting and recording veteran suicides. The OVA engages regularly with the Scottish Government on our data and research programme, including on the development of this new methodology. The Scottish Government are members of the OVA and MoD led Veterans and Covenant Data Working Group, which brings together analysts from across government to collaborate and share best practice.

Employment: Young People

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Minister for Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the number of 18 to 24 year olds (a) in part time employment, (b) in contracted work and (c) unemployed.

Michael Ellis: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond. Letter Response to PQ113740 (pdf, 111.7KB)

Coronavirus: Public Inquiries

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what date he expects the inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic to commence.

Michael Ellis: The Prime Minister has appointed the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett as the chair of the inquiry. Draft terms of reference will be published in due course.

Treasury

Business: Coronavirus

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HMRC plans to spend for the purposes of recovering public money lost to fraud and economic crime through covid-19 support schemes.

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many ongoing investigations are underway at HMRC to recover public money lost to fraud and economic crime through the emergency covid-19 schemes as of 26 January 2022.

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many members of staff at HMRC are working full-time on the recovery of public money lost to fraud and economic crime through the emergency covid-19 schemes as of 26 January 2022.

Lucy Frazer: Throughout the pandemic, the Government’s number one priority has been to protect jobs and livelihoods whilst also supporting businesses and public services across the UK. The overwhelming majority of people that claimed Covid-19 support did so legitimately. HMRC is also aware that mistakes can happen, which is why HMRC is supporting people who made a mistake to correct it. Those who keep money claimed from any of the Covid-19 support schemes despite knowing they were not entitled to it face having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest, and potentially criminal prosecution in the most serious of cases. As published in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, over 1,300 Full Time Equivalent staff were deployed onto the COVID schemes during 2020-21. The full report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021 The Government has since invested over £100 million in a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce of over 1,200 Full Time Equivalent of HMRC staff to combat fraud and error within the HMRC Covid-19 schemes, one of the largest and quickest responses to a fraud risk by HMRC. The taskforce is funded for two years up to the year 2022-23 and will enable HMRC to increase their one-to-one checks to 30,000. The Taskforce is expected to recover between £800 million to £1 billion in overpayments. Up to November 2021, HMRC issued over 74,000 letters asking claimants to check their claims and self-correct if they had got it wrong, and opened over 26,000 one-to-one checks where there was a risk that the grant had been overclaimed. HMRC’s 2020-21 compliance results for the Covid-19 schemes amounted to over £830 million, achieved by preventing losses by pre-payment activity and recovering overclaimed grants. Taskforce performance for the year 2021-22 will be published in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-22.

Business: Coronavirus

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much public money intended to support businesses affected by covid-19 restrictions has been lost to fraud.

Lucy Frazer: The Government has provided around £400 billion of direct support for the economy since the start of the pandemic, which has helped to safeguard jobs, businesses, and public services in every region and nation of the UK. This package has included a wide range of different COVID-19 support schemes for businesses, delivered by a variety of Government departments, either directly, via their arms-length bodies, or via local authorities. Departments are required to disclose details of material fraud, evasion, and error within their annual report and accounts, which can be found on GOV.UK.

Taxpayer Protection Taskforce

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full-time equivalent staff the taxpayer protection taskforce has.

Lucy Frazer: At Spring Budget 2021, the Government announced a £100 million investment into a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to significantly extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that HMRC administered (Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Eat Out to Help Out). This investment has funded 1,265 Full Time Equivalent staff for over the two years to 31 March 2023.

Incontinence

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of removing VAT from the cost of incontinence pads.

Lucy Frazer: Incontinence products are already eligible for the zero rate of VAT when sold to an individual who is disabled or chronically sick and the goods are for their personal use. This applies to sales over the counter or on the internet and in most circumstances the customer does not need to complete an eligibility declaration. No assessment has been made of the potential impact of removing VAT from other sales of incontinence pads.

VAT

Alan Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total VAT receipts contained in the (a) March and (b) November 2021 budget for each financial year for the remaining parliamentary term.

Lucy Frazer: The Office for Budget Responsibility published Economic and fiscal outlook reports in March 2021 and October 2021. The March publication contained a VAT forecast up to and including the year 2025-26. The October publication contained a VAT forecast up to and including the year 2026-27. The March publication set out that VAT receipts are forecast to be £127.9 billion in 2021-22, £145.6 billion in 2022-23, £149.7 billion in 2023-24, £155.1 billion in 2024-25, and £159.2 billion in 2025-26. The October publication set out that VAT receipts are forecast to be £131.9 billion in 2021-22, £155.0 billion in 2022-23, £159.1 billion in 2023-24, £163.1 billion in 2024-25, £167.4 billion in 2025-26, and £172.1 billion in 2026-27.

Business

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on businesses of the concurrent ending of the reduced rate of VAT, business rates support and rent protections.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on business survival rates of the concurrent ending of the reduced rate of VAT, business rates support and rent protections.

Lucy Frazer: The Government has provided around £400 billion of direct support for the economy since the start of the pandemic, which has helped to safeguard jobs, businesses, and public services in every region and nation of the UK. This includes the £1 billion Omicron package announced in December 2021, which was focused on supporting the hospitality, leisure, and cultural sectors. Now that we have returned to Plan A, and as individuals and businesses learn to live with Covid-19, it is right that this exceptional support comes to an end as planned. This is vital for a strong economy and to help rebuild the public finances. However, support is being withdrawn gradually, so that businesses can plan and adjust over time. For example, the rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism businesses was increased gradually to its current level of 12.5 per cent in October 2021 before reverting to its pre-pandemic level of 20 per cent as planned in March 2022. The Government is aware that the high street faces long-term challenges and is committed to supporting the businesses that make our high streets and town centres successful. While the Government has provided unprecedented business rates support worth £16 billion to businesses in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors throughout the pandemic, it is right that we move back towards pre-pandemic levels of support now that restrictions have ended. At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government announced a new temporary business rates relief set at 50 per cent up to a maximum of £110,000 per business for the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors worth almost £1.7 billion in 2022-23. This will support the businesses that make our high streets and town centres successful to evolve and adapt to changing consumer demands until the next revaluation. The multiplier will be frozen in 2022-23, a tax cut worth £4.6 billion over the next 5 years. This will support all ratepayers, large and small, meaning bills are 3 per cent lower than without the freeze. On the topic of rent protections, following mandated closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government introduced an eviction moratorium and related protection measures to protect businesses from eviction and insolvency. As a result, some businesses have accrued rental debts, estimated at a total of £1.5 billion as of March 2022, creating the risk of insolvencies and job losses, should these debts not be resolved through sustainable repayment plans. Many landlords and tenants have come to voluntary agreements on this rental debt. Where these agreements have not been reached, the Government is passing legislation this Spring to support the orderly resolution of these debts, including a set of principles for negotiation and a binding-arbitration backstop. This builds on a Code of Practice for commercial property relationships published by Government in November 2021, and sets out a clear path for both landlords and tenants to move from dispute to resolution.

Heating: Finance

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to increase (a) support for installing heat pumps and (b) other funding for decarbonising heating systems in homes.

Helen Whately: The recent Spending Review invested £3.9 billion to ensure buildings are warmer and cheaper to heat. This included £450m to drive growth in the heat pump market through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, £338m to continue our support for heat networks, £1.8bn to support low-income households to decarbonise their homes, and £1.4bn to decarbonise the public sector estate. As set out in the Heat and Building Strategy, the government is also implementing policies to create a market friendly regulatory framework to increase clean heat uptake. This includes setting an ambition to phase out all new fossil fuel heating from 2035, and consulting on an earlier date for phasing out high-carbon fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid. We are also working with local authorities to introduce heat network zones and will ensure that all new buildings constructed in England will be net zero ready from 2025. Together, these interventions will support progress towards the government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028.

Fraud Advisory Panel

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken in response to the letter he received on 16 June 2020 from the Fraud Advisory Panel.

John Glen: The Fraud Advisory Panel wrote to the Chancellor asking for the details of borrowers under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme to be published, a central repository of loans and grants to be created, and for additional measures to be introduced to tackle fraud. The British Business Bank, as administrators of the loan scheme, collects over 70 data points across ever single loan. Data on applications and loans approved under the scheme was published regularly while the scheme was open, and data on the repayment of the loans is now being published regularly now that the scheme has closed to new loan applications. However, we have a duty to consider the privacy of businesses accessing these schemes, which is why data has been – and will continue to be - published on an aggregate basis. We remain committed to cracking down on fraud wherever it arises. But we have always been clear that fraud is unacceptable and that those found to have defrauded the government will face immediate demand for repayment of their loans, and could also face a fine and prosecution. We are taking action against those abusing the system by working closely with law enforcement, counter-fraud agencies and commercial lenders. We will always seek out opportunities where we, collectively, can do more and will continue to prioritise counter-fraud work across the COVID-19 support schemes.

Business: Coronavirus

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials in his Department worked on preventing fraud in the coronavirus business support schemes in each month since April 2020.

John Glen: HM Treasury takes a flexible and dynamic approach to resourcing to meet Government priorities. We have officials delivering priority work, including on preventing fraud in the COVID-19 business support schemes. However, we do not routinely record the number of civil servants working on individual policy initiatives.

Social Services: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he made of the adequacy of funding provided to local authorities for children services in the context of the increasing number of children in local authority care.

Mr Simon Clarke: Ahead of Spending Review 2021, my officials worked with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and other departments to assess the pressures on local authorities across children’s social care and other services. The Spending Review provides local authorities with an additional £1.6 billion of grant funding in each of the next three years. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 confirmed that local authorities will have access to over £1 billion of additional resource next year specifically for social care. Ultimately it is for local authorities to manage their budgets within the funding available to them and to prioritise statutory services such as children’s social care.

Service Industries: Coronavirus

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors recover from the covid-19 outbreak.

Helen Whately: In December, Government announced a £1bn package of support for businesses impacted by the Omicron variant, including grants worth up to £6,000 for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors. These measures are just the latest action taken to safeguard businesses and jobs and is in addition to:business rates relief meaning that the majority of businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will see a 75% reduction in their business rates bill across the entire financial year and a new 50% capped business rates relief next financial year;a 12.5% reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism;access to finance for SMEs through the Recovery Loan Scheme to June; andBounce Back Loan repayment flexibility, with borrowers having the option to take a 6 month repayment holiday, three 6 month interest only periods or extend their loan to 10 years, which almost halves the monthly payment. Thanks to our decisive action to implement balanced and proportionate measures in response to the Omicron variant, Cabinet has decided to return to Plan A in England.

COP26: Finance

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the budget is for the COP26 President in Financial Year 2022.

Helen Whately: Departmental funding requirements for the 2022-23 financial year were assessed and agreed through the Spending Review 2021 process. The Cabinet Office and other relevant government departments will assess and determine the appropriate funding requirement for the COP26 Presidency in 2022-23 and fund through these existing budgets.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband: VAT

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing or removing VAT on social tariffs to support low income families to be able to afford broadband.

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing subsidies for low income households to support access to broadband.

Julia Lopez: The Department continues to work alongside Ofcom to review the affordability of telecoms services.Support currently exists in the market for low-income households to access broadband services. There are a range of fixed broadband social tariff products available to over 5 million low-income households in receipt of Universal Credit, and other means-tested benefits. These tariffs are available to eligible households in 99% of the country. We will monitor the effectiveness of these products in supporting low-income households' access to broadband.The Government currently has no plans to expand subsidies for low-income households accessing broadband beyond DWP’s existing partnership with TalkTalk to provide job-seekers a free 6 month broadband connection.In relation to reducing VAT on social tariff products, it is never guaranteed that any reduction in tax on a service would be passed on by the businesses to the consumer, and this request should be viewed in the context of over £50 billion of requests for relief from VAT received since the EU referendum. We also recognise that any cut would need to be balanced elsewhere, either through increased taxes, more borrowing or reductions in Government spending.

House of Commons Commission

Palace of Westminster: Repairs and Maintenance

Alan Brown: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the final cost was of the cast iron roof replacement and refurbishment programme.

Sir Charles Walker: The programme of work was split into three separate projects. Costs to date for the Cast Iron Roofs Programme (C1488 – made up of C2036, C2037, C2038) are as follows:C2036 £13,926,079 – FINALPhase 2 Project 1 – South Return, Lord Speaker’s Towers & Link Roof, River Front South.C2037 £33,356,338 – FINALPhase 2 Project 2 – Roofs around Peers & Commons Inner Courts, River Front Middle, West Vent Tower, River Front Vent Tower.C2038 £44,755,804 – FORECASTPhase 2 Project 3 – River Front North, Speaker’s Towers & Link Roof, Star Chamber Court North, St Stephen’s Hall & Porch, West Front Roofs.Total £92,038,221Note: Figures include fees and VAT. Also note the figure for C2038 is still at forecast as we have not yet completed on site.